Religious Violence Will Now Be Covered in Indian Textbooks

August 17, 2006

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5260286.stm

On August 17, 2006 BBC News reported, "Pupils in India will soon be taught controversial topics like the 2002 Gujarat riots and those which followed the destruction of the Babri mosque. The new syllabus, meant for final-year political science students, is due out in April 2007. Indian textbooks are largely silent on sensitive issues after 1947 - the year of India's independence from British rule and the creation of Pakistan. The new syllabus hopes to bridge that gap of 60 years. Academics say the chapters for the new textbooks have been discussed and approved and they are in the process of being written. But some of these issues are political hot potatoes in India and many academics are wondering whether the new syllabus will be able to deal with them in an objective manner. 'These are events that are not easy to write about,' says Professor Yogendra Yadav, who is on the panel for preparation of textbooks. 'But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be written about,' he says. Prof Yadav says the idea is to familiarise students with some of the key political events of the post-Independence period."