National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has issued a corrigendum for grade 12th Political Science textbook to drop the lines mentioning the ‘creation of Khalistan’ and ‘plea for separate Sikh nation’ in the Chapter Seven which includes the Anandpur Sahib Resolution 1973. 

The changes have been made based on recommendations by a special committee set up by NCERT after receiving a letter from Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee demanding withdrawal of ‘objectionable’ content against Sikh community calling it misrepresentation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution,” Sanjay Kumar, secretary, School Education, Ministry of Education, said.

The NCERT has dropped the last lines of the first two paragraphs on page 159 in the textbook. “Under the sub-heading ‘Punjab’ the line’…but it (Anandpur Sahib Resolution) could also be interpreted as a plea for a separate Sikh nation’ is dropped…In the same section the line ‘the more extreme elements started advocating secession from India and the creation of Khalistan’ is also dropped,” the corrigendum released by NCERT said. 

The NCERT has further rewritten a line in the chapter calling the Resolution ‘a plea for strengthening federalism in India’. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution listed demands made by the political party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, in 1973- which included demand for regional autonomy to the state of Punjab. 

The new edition of the grade 12th Political Science textbook has been uploaded on NCERT’s website and the authorities are working on incorporating them in the print, officials said. The content in the textbook was rationalised for 2022-23 and the same textbooks will continue for 2023-24. 

Chapter Seven ‘Regional Aspirations’ of grade 12th Political Science textbook studies the rise of different groups in the 1980s demanding a separate nation from India post Independence. These include the Khalistan uprising, the Jammu and Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan, and insurgency in the North East and the South of India, among others. 

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