Maharashtra shrinks lessons on Mughals & Rajputs, adds chapters on Bofors, Emergency

New Delhi: The Maharashtra State Education Board has come up with revised history textbooks for Classes 7 and 9 for the 2017-18 academic year, emphasising on the Maratha regime and the emperor Shivaji.

The board has removed separate chapters on Mughals, Rajputs, Muhammad bin Tuqhlaq and Razia Sultana, putting them all in a single chapter. The revised edition reportedly has no mention of the monuments built by these rulers such as Red Fort, Qutub Minar. Instead, the books now carry chapters on Bofors scam and the Emergency of 1975-1977.

The revision of the syllabus was discussed in a meeting last year chaired by the State Education Minister Vinod Tawde at Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, a think-tank promoted by the RSS.

"The need was felt to update history with modern events.The Mughal history has been reduced. Modern history needs to be incorporated," Mumbai Mirror quoted Bapusaheb Shinde, a member of the history subject committees for textbooks as saying.

Shivaji who was earlier designated as the `People's King', now, will be termed as `An Ideal Ruler'. The roles of Shivaji, his family and Maratha generals are extensively covered in the new edition.

“In the previous version, the first chapter titled `India and the World' described the feudal order in Europe, role of the Arabs in the spice trade between Europe and South East Asia, the Islamic world's contribution to arts, science, and literature, and the rise of Islam. It offered a background to the first Arab invasion into the Indian sub-continent in the 8th Century AD. All of that has been removed," said Neeta Vaz a faculty of St. Anne's School in Malad who has been teaching history for the past 24 years.

She further added that chapters on architectural splendour during the Mughal era, the Mughals' initiatives of starting postal service, building `serais' or inns on the highway, and measuring the highways have also been removed. “Students need to know about these things,“ added Vaz.

However, Sadanand More, chairman of the History subject committee of the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research, defended the revision saying it was relevant for students in Maharashtra.

“Why should we not change? We have looked at history from a Maharashtra-centric point of view. Even if it is the Delhi Sultanate or the Mughal rule and the medieval history of India, we have kept Maharashtra at the centre. It is a natural course as we are from Maharashtra.What's wrong in that? In fact the Central board books have very little about our state,“ More said.