The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: A group of 33 scholars who at various stages were a part of the National Council for Educational Research and Training’s Textbook Development Committee have asked that their names be deleted from the political science textbooks they contributed to because of the “unilateral” changes made by NCERT.
The scholars say that despite differing views, they had worked together to create “a truly remarkable set of school textbooks in political science”. However, the NCERT has now made a number of crucial changes and deletions to these textbooks. “The decision of who decides what is unacceptable and what is desirable has been kept rather opaque, violating the core principles of transparency and contestation that, we believe, underlies academic knowledge production,” their letter states.
“Since there are several substantive revisions of the original texts, making them thereby different books, we find it difficult to claim that these are the books we produced and to associate our names with them,” it continues.
Earlier, Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palsikar had asked for their names to be removed from the textbooks, saying that the textbooks “were once the source of pride for us but are now a source of embarrassment”.
Read the full text of the 33 scholars’ letter to the NCERT below.
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Dear Professor Dinesh Prasad Saklani,
We have been following with growing concern, and increasing alarm, the public discussion on NCERT’s unilateral attempts to modify and revise textbooks produced collaboratively by scholars from across the country. We, the undersigned, have participated in these efforts to produce the textbooks in political science. Through these textbooks we hoped to explain to school students the ideals of our freedom struggle, the aspirations of the constituent assembly, the principles of our constitutional order, the role of leaders and movements, the nature of our federal system, the promising and dynamic qualities of our democratic republic, key episodes of contemporary politics in India, and the global developments and theoretical principles of political science in this uniquely Indian context.
The political scientists who contributed to this effort came from multiple perspectives and had varied ideological positions. Yet we were able to work together to produce what is, by any measure, a truly remarkable set of school textbooks in political science. The pedagogic strategy that was adopted was, over several months, collectively deliberated upon and agreed to.
We are now given to believe that this creative collective effort is in jeopardy.
NCERT is now making changes to the textbooks. These involve deletions of sentences and removal of some sections (even chapters) considered unacceptable with emphasis given to others considered desirable. The decision of who decides what is unacceptable and what is desirable has been kept rather opaque, violating the core principles of transparency and contestation that, we believe, underlies academic knowledge production.
In this regard we wish to state the following:
1. The political science textbooks were produced after considerable deliberation on substantive and pedagogic issues between contributors and Chief Advisors.
2. Political scientists from colleges, universities, and schools, from across India, accepted this responsibility of producing a set of engaging and accessible textbooks for school students in the discipline of political science. Considerable professional time was devoted to achieving this goal.
3. Drafts of texts produced were sent to the Chief Advisors who, after review, sent them back to contributors to consider the suggestions and make revisions if they felt them to be necessary. This consultative protocol was at the core of the process because it underscored the academic autonomy and freedom of the scholars who were involved.
4. In addition to the issues raised of (i) academic freedom, (ii) pedagogic integrity, and (iii) institutional propriety, we also seek your clarifications on the question of Intellectual Property Rights which you have claimed to defend your revisions. You say that NCERT has the IPR on the textbooks. This we accept. It can publish the textbooks as they were produced under the guidance of the Chief Advisors in as many copies and editions that it wishes. But it is not at liberty to make substantive changes, minor or major, and then claim that the same set of contributors and Chief Advisors continue to be responsible for the revised text as it now stands.
In addition to the risk of the revisions changing the meaning and saying the opposite of what was intended by the contributors, is the principle of consulting them on changes to be made, or at least consulting the Chief Advisors who piloted this collective effort, and getting their approval. Since there are several substantive revisions of the original texts, making them thereby different books, we find it difficult to claim that these are the books we produced and to associate our names with them.
With greatly regret at this turn of events we, therefore, request you to delete our names, as members of the Textbook Development Committee, from the political science textbooks of NCERT.
With best wishes,
1. Muzaffar Assadi, Dean Faculty of Arts and Professor, University of Mysore
2. Kanti Prasad Bajpai, National University, Singapore
3. Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata
4. Rajeev Bhargava, Hon Fellow, CSDS, Delhi
5. Dwaipayan Bhattacharya, CPS, JNU, New Delhi
6. Navnita Chadha Behera, University of Delhi
7. Lajwanti Chatani, MS University, Baroda
8. Rajeshwari Deshpande, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune
9. Peter Ronald deSouza, Former Director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.
10. Rajesh Dev, Delhi University
11. Akhil Ranjan Dutta, Guahati University, Guwahati
12. Alex M George, Independent Researcher, Kerala
13. Malini Ghose, Nirantar, Center for Gender and Education, New Delhi
14. Niraja Gopal Jayal, Former Professor, Centre for Law & Governance, JNU, New Delhi
15. Manish Jain, School of Education Studies, Dr B. R. Ambedkar University, Delhi
16. Shefali Jha, CPS, JNU, New Delhi
17. Kailash K. K., University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad
18. Manjari Katju, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad
19. Shailendra Kharat, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune
20. Sanjay Lodha, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Governance and Social Sciences, Jaipur
21. Siddharth Mallavarapu, Shiv Nadar University, NOIDA
22. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, CPR, New Delhi
23. Nivedita Menon, JNU, New Delhi
24. Radhika Menon, Dept of Education, Mata Sundari College, Uni. of Delhi
25. Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Calcutta University, Kolkata
26. Vipul Mudgal, Common Cause, New Delhi
27. Sajal Nag, Assam University, Silchar
28. Aditya Nigam, formerly Professor, CSDS, Delhi
29. Priyavadan Patel, formerly Professor, MS University, Baroda
30. Chaitra Redkar, IISER, Pune
31. Sandeep Shastri, Academic Director, NITTE, Bengaluru
32. Ujjwal Kumar Singh, University of Delhi
33. K.C. Suri, Distinguished Professor, GITAM (deemed University), Visakhapattanam