The Kerala government has criticised the removal of chapters on the periodic table and challenges to democracy, among other topics from Class X textbooks by the NCERT and said it amounts to challenging democratic and secular values.
The new textbooks with the changes announced by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) last year as part of a "rationalisation" exercise have now hit the market. Apart from the Periodic Table and challenges to democracy, contribution of agriculture to the national economy and sustainable management of natural resources were also dropped from Class X textbooks.
"The unilateral action of the NCERT to remove the topics under the guise of rationalisation is a challenge to the democratic and secular values of our country. Kerala has already declared that it cannot be accepted, as it challenges the entire existing democratic order in the country," State Education Minister V Sivankutty has said in a statement issued on June 2 night.
