NCERT reshuffles political science book team, four linked to RSS
Four members of the new NCERT team reportedly have direct or indirect links to the RSS.
NCERT has restructured the Textbook Development Team for Class 11 and 12 Political Science textbooks. This team has been tasked with incorporating cultural roots, Indian knowledge traditions, and inclusivity into the textbooks. But that is not the news.
The news is that four members of the team are reported to have direct or indirect links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
According to a report by Telegraph, the team has been asked to prepare the Class 11 textbook by November this year and the Class 12 textbook by July next year. The Textbook Development Team will be led by academician and political analyst Sandeep Shastri. Shastri is the Vice-Chancellor of Nitte, a deemed university in Karnataka. Among the members of the Textbook Development Team are at least four academicians whose backgrounds are directly or indirectly linked with the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the BJP.
Yadunath Deshpande, currently a senior advisor in the Ministry of Education, has been organizationally associated with ABVP for a long time. According to the organization's records, he was previously the Joint State Organization Minister of ABVP in Maharashtra. He later served as the Organization Minister in ABVP's Mumbai-Konkan unit.
His LinkedIn profile also describes him as a political advisor to the BJP.
Prashant Divekar has been associated with Pune-based Gyan Prabodhini for a long time, which is said to be an RSS-affiliated institution. It was founded in 1962 by RSS member and pracharak Vinayak Vishwanath. On his profile on the National Mission for Mentoring portal of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), Divekar describes his perspective as "rooted in Indian educational philosophy." He has also stated that he contributed to the National Curriculum Framework. Professor Vandana Mishra of JNU's Centre for Political Studies is a former National Secretary of ABVP.
Ravi Rameshchandra Shukla, Associate Professor at JNU's Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory, has been a member of the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Democratic Governance. This journal is published by the Indian Institute of Democratic Leadership-Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, which is said to be an RSS-affiliated institution. In 2021, Devendra Fadnavis became its president.
Shukla has also conducted research focused on cultural and spiritual nationalism. He is the Principal Investigator of a JNU project funded by ICSSR titled "The Role of Fairs in Shaping India's Spiritual and Cultural Nationalism: A Study of Kumbh and Magh Melas."
The team includes Prakash Kandpal from JNU, Nidhi Gupta from National Law University, Chetan Singhai from Chanakya University, Sukanshika Vats from Delhi University, Satish Kumar from IGNOU, Diwanshu Srivastava from National University of Study and Research in Law, Pranav Gupta from Jindal Global Law School, Nanda Kishore from Pondicherry University, and Swapna Prabhubhi from Utkal University. Other members include Savita Sagar from NCERT, M. N. Suresh Kumar from Government First Grade College in Bengaluru, Diana Isabel from Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation School, and N. Bharani from SHVNM Government PU College for Girls.
Vanthangpui Khobung and Subhash Singh from NCERT will be the member coordinator and co-coordinator, respectively. According to NCERT's notification, this team will take guidance from curricular area groups related to social sciences, languages, Indian knowledge systems, environmental education, innovative teaching methods, and teaching-learning materials. Additionally, the team will consult other curricular area groups to ensure coordination between curricula of different classes, interdisciplinary relationships between various subjects, and a multilingual perspective.
In a notification issued by NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani, it was stated that,
each textbook will be reviewed to monitor the appropriate inclusion of various broad themes such as cultural roots, Indian knowledge systems, inclusivity, educational technology, and evaluation.