A high-level committee set up by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to revise the social sciences curriculum for schools has recommended that the country’s name, ‘India’, be replaced in school textbooks with the word ‘Bharat’, triggering outrage among Opposition politicians. Clarifying that the panel’s recommendations have not been approved yet, the NCERT said that it was “too premature” to comment on the issue.
The panel is headed by C.I. Issac, a retired history professor who has been closely associated with Sangh Parivar institutions for several decades. He told journalists on Wednesday that the panel had unanimously recommended, in its report submitted to NCERT earlier this year, that the country’s name should be referred to as ‘Bharat’ and not ‘India’ in all school textbooks, from the primary to high-school level.
Mr. Issac, 71, who was awarded the Padma Shri this year, is a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), and retired from the History department at Kottayam’s CMS College. He is a long-time member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, and currently heads the Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram, a right-wing think-tank.
