The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has released a revised version of its Class 8 Social Science textbook, “Exploring Society: India and Beyond,” months after the earlier edition sparked controversy over content allegedly defaming the judiciary. The revised edition drops the disputed portions along with references to judicial backlog and two major court verdicts, while adding fresh material on Public Interest Litigation (PIL), tribunals, and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. However, the judiciary-related changes are not the only revisions in the new edition.
In the chapter titled “Citizenship: Rights and Duties,” the textbook now lists economic background among the grounds for discrimination, alongside caste, religion, ethnicity, disability, race, physical appearance, gender, and sexuality.
“Discrimination is mistreating any person or group because of their caste, religion, ethnicity, disability, race, physical appearance, gender, sexuality, or economic background. This is not only unethical, but also legally prohibited,” the textbook states, adding that children from economically disadvantaged families can face prejudice and unequal treatment alongside discrimination based on appearance, gender, sexuality, or other personal characteristics.
The revision comes at a time when the definition of discrimination has been the subject of public debate following the Centre’s UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, which define discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, gender, place of birth, or disability, but do not explicitly include economic background as a protected category.
Congress’s position on Partition tweaked
The history chapter, “India’s Long Road to Independence,” has also seen significant changes. The revised textbook says that the partition in 1947 was widely opposed, even by the Indian National Congress and that whether accepting it was the only way forward remains a matter of debate — a tweak from the earlier version, which stated that Mahatma Gandhi and most Congress leaders opposed Partition but ended up accepting it as the only way forward.
The new edition also drops a sentence from the earlier textbook stating that the Congress leaders were helpless as communal massacres engulfed the subcontinent during Partition. Additionally, the revised edition expands on the demand for complete independence, adding that a similar demand for Swaraj was expressed by V. D. Savarkar in 1925.
Adolf Hitler and Nazi ideology have been dropped
Meanwhile, references to Adolf Hitler and Nazi ideology have been dropped from the section on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose — the earlier text had said Bose sought Hitler’s support to raise an army and described the German leader as a dictator whose racist Nazi ideology and expansionist goals triggered the Second World War, while the revised edition simply states that Bose sought support from the anti-British forces.
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What prompted revisions in the textbook
The controversy that prompted these revisions had broken out in February over a section on “Corruption in the judiciary” in the Class 8 textbook, following which the Supreme Court intervened, leading to the withdrawal of physical and digital copies and an apology from NCERT. The top court had imposed a complete blanket ban on any further publication, reprinting, or digital dissemination of the textbook, citing offending content on corruption in the judiciary.
The revised textbook notes in its acknowledgements that it has been published in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court in the suo motu writ petition (civil) no. 1/2026, and adds that Chapter 4, “The Role of the Judiciary in Society,” was rewritten by an expert committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Education following the apex court’s order dated March 16. The withdrawn edition had listed 51 members as part of its development team; the revised edition lists 48, with the names of three persons — Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar, and Alok Prasanna Kumar — who were initially held responsible for the judiciary chapter, dropped from the list.
NCERT textbooks available for Classes 1 to 9
Meanwhile, NCERT officials said all but two textbooks for classes 1 to 9 developed as per the new curriculum are now available, with the remaining two expected to be released by August. Part two of the Class 9 social science and mathematics textbooks is among those still pending.
“The new textbooks have been developed in line with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023. All textbooks for classes 1 to 8 are now available in both digital and print formats. Textbooks for class 9 have also been released, except for two of them, which will be available by August,” a senior official said, amid complaints that not all textbooks were available three months into the academic session.
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The official added that new textbooks for classes 10 and 11 will be introduced from the academic session 2027-28 onwards, and the existing textbooks for these two classes will continue to be used during the current 2026-27 session. The NCF is a set of curricular guidelines and a key component of the new National Education Policy (NEP).
(with inputs from PTI)