The NCERT, in the revisions class 11 political science textbook, has removed a paragraph that discussed the circumstances surrounding Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to the Union of India in 1947.

In the earlier version of the textbook, it was stated that Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to the Union of India was made on the condition that its autonomy would be safeguarded as per the provisions of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

The recently revised 10th chapter of the NCERT’s class 11 political science textbook, titled “The Philosophy of the Constitution,” does not make any mention of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to the Union of India under specific conditions. Additionally, the authors of the textbook have also eliminated a reference to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad from the first chapter of the book.

Last year, the NCERT conducted a “syllabus rationalization” initiative, during which it removed certain portions from its curriculum, citing “overlapping” and “irrelevant” reasons. This included lessons on various topics such as the Gujarat riots, Mughal courts, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement, and others, which were removed from the NCERT’s textbooks.

The NCERT has stated that the recent 2022-23 rationalization process has not resulted in any changes being made to the Class 11 textbook. However, it has been noted that the references to Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad were removed earlier, prior to the recent rationalization process.

“It is stated that there has been no change in the Textbook of Class XI Political Science Indian Constitution at Work in the process of rationalization of 2022-23. The rationalized version available in the print and online form highlights the retained contents of the textbook in its entirety as given in the textbook editions of 2019 and 2020,” NCERT mentions.