The Kerala Government on Thursday decided to remove certain controversial portions from class VII social science textbook in a bid to end the raging textbook controversy in the state. Simultaneously, the state Government also ruled out withdrawal of the textbook, a demand made by the Congress-led Opposition. This political and religious debate is only the latest addition to an eventful history of textbook controversies that have plagued the country time and again. Here’s a look at some recent ones:

•JUNE 2008: Religious leaders and the opposition parties in Kerala go up in arms and the state witnesses widespread agitations over the contents of a chapter entitled Life without religion in class VII social science book. The ruling LDF is accused of attempting to spread communism and atheism among the students.

•JUNE 2008: The Goa Government withdraws two NCERT textbooks — History and Hindi — after objections raised by anti-tobacco groups and NGOs over numerous factual errors in the textbooks, in addition to the picture of a French commander smoking.

•JUNE 2008: In its efforts to modify academic curriculum, as part of the National Curriculum Framework, the NCERT replaces a class VIII book on the biography of Gautam Buddha written by Ashvaghosh, Buddhacharita, with Jawaharlal Nehru’s Bharat Ek Khoj. Buddhist and SC/ST organisations consider this a sign of disrespect and an attempt to moot the “Nehru/Gandhi-centric vision”, to replace “literature” with “history”.

•MARCH 2008: The BJP raises hue and cry over the essay, Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation, by A K Ramanujan as part of the Delhi university’s Bachelor of Arts (BA) programme and considers it “an attempt to denigrate the Ramayana and create serious doubts about the existence of Ram, Sita and Laxman”.

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