Reference to Maulana Azad in Class 11 textbook was deleted in 2014-15, says NCERT

The reference to freedom fighter and India’s first Education Minister Maulana Azad was dropped from the Class 11 political science textbook in 2014-2015, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) said.

The reference to freedom fighter and India’s first Education Minister Maulana Azad was dropped from the Class 11 political science textbook in 2014-2015, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) said.

“This was done as a regular practice of reprinting NCERT textbooks, updating and correcting the information,” the NCERT said.

It claimed that the textbook for the 2014-15 session was finalised for printing in October 2013.

The Hindu had reported on April 12 that Mr. Azad’s reference appeared in the older version of the textbook but not in the latest version.

The NCERT also claimed that the 2019 and 2020 versions of the textbook did not have Mr. Azad’s reference.

Also Read: Opposition parties slam deletion of Maulana Azad’s name from NCERT textbook

In the first chapter of the textbook, titled ‘Constitution - Why and How’, a line about the Constituent Assembly meetings previously had mention of Azad too. It now reads, “Usually, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel, or B.R. Ambedkar chaired these Committees.”