NCERT Panel Recommends Replacing ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has reportedly accepted the recommendation of adopting the name ‘Bharat’ instead of ‘India’, according to PTI. This means if the panel’s recommendations are accepted then the new books published under NCERT will have ‘Bharat’ as the new name of India in all school textbooks.
Reacting to the development, the NCERT has issued a statement saying that it is ‘too premature to comment’ on the name change. It also added that the development of new syllabus and textbooks is under the process.
The committee who accepted the proposal included, ICHR Chairperson Raghuvendra Tanwar, Vandana Mishra, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Vasant Shinde, former vice-chancellor of the Deccan College Deemed University, and Mamta Yadav, who teaches sociology in a Haryana government school.
According to Issac, the committee also suggested highlighting “Hindu victories” in various battles in the textbooks as he said, “The committee has unanimously recommended that the name ‘Bharat’ should be used in textbooks for students across classes. We have also recommended introducing ‘classical history’ instead of ‘ancient history’ in the textbooks.”
In accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the NCERT is updating the curriculum of the school textbooks. The curriculum, textbooks, and learning materials for these classes will soon be finalized thanks to the formation of the 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) by the council.Recently, the name change of India appeared during the G20 Summit hosted by India in September 2023, when the invitation to dinner was sent to G20 delegates under the name of ‘President of Bharat’.
