Introspecting Aloud

Hindutva Fundamentalists Lose California Textbook Court Case

( Via South Asia Citizens Web(SACW) ) Hindutva groups backed CAPEEM loses the California Textbook Court Case. Here is the Text of Summary Judgment. The list of edits being debated about here are listed here. Notice how unlike the seemingly valid misrepresentations listed by CAPEEM on their website, the actual edits being disputed by them in court is totally different. Similar to BJP's attempt in textbook distortion in India, CAPEEM is also advocating edits which among others, dispute: Aryan invasion on India, casteism in hindu society, any mention of criticism of Hinduism being the reason behind the birth of Buddhism and Jainism, lower rights for women in hindu society, presence on untouchability in hindu society, etc.

Interview of Romila Thapar on UNESCO

Romila Thapar interview on UNESCO

The worrying thing is, what will happen if the Bharatiya Janata Party returns to power in the next election, which will be held within 12 months? Will they change the textbooks again? I worry for the school children who have to be examined in the subject and depend on textbooks. Once we accept one religious group’s agenda and beliefs to be taught in the public schools, it opens the door for every other group to do the same thing. As educators, we have to make a distinction between history on the one hand, which involves questioning existing knowledge about the past where necessary, and faith on the other hand, where even myths are acceptable. The two have to be kept separate. The first is the domain of the historian and the second that of the priest.