NEW DELHI: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday vowed to take action against those responsible for the reference to judicial corruption in an NCERT textbook, amid indications of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unhappiness over what he considers to be a grave lapse.
Modi is learnt to have flagged the controversial inclusion of corruption among judiciaries in the theme dealing with problems facing administration of justice in the new NCERT Class VIII social science texbook. “What are we teaching Class VIII children about judicial corruption?” sources quoted the PM as saying at the meting of the Union Cabinet on Tuesday.
As the NCERT scrambled to stem the fallout from the Supreme Court’s fury over the issue, taking off the book’s e-version from its website and figuring out ways to get hold of the 32 hard copies that had been sold, Pradhan offered an unconditional apology.
He affirmed respect for the judiciary while promising to fix accountability and take action against those who drafted the controversial chapter. The issue centres on Chapter 4 — “Role of the Judiciary in Our Society” — in the new social science textbook (Part 2) brought out by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Edited by Michel Danino and Alok Prasanna, the chapter listed corruption, massive case pendency and shortage of judges as challenges faced by the judicial system.
The controversy escalated on Thursday when the Supreme Court observed that there appeared to be a “well-orchestrated conspiracy” to defame the judiciary and imposed a “blanket ban” on the NCERT book, ordering that all physical and digital copies be seized.
Meanwhile, NCERT, when asked, said the e-version of the textbook was “not uploaded online”.
“Thirty-two physical copies were sold before distribution was halted” — a figure also cited by the solicitor general in court.
The council to a question on how it was tracking and recalling the already-sold books, a senior NCERT official said, “As all the books have been sold through NCERT depots, they were tracked and majority of them have been already recalled.” The chapter will now be rewritten in consultation with appropriate authorities and made available from the 2026–27 academic session.
On the top court’s observations, Pradhan said he was “deeply saddened by what had happened, stressed that there was no intention to insult the judiciary” and added that “an inquiry would be conducted to identify those responsible”. He added that circulation of the textbooks was immediately put on hold once the issue came to light and that the govt would fully comply with the Supreme Court’s directions.
Following stern remarks from the SC that it would not allow “anyone on earth” to tarnish the judiciary’s integrity, NCERT pulled the textbook from its website. The council on Wednesday apologised for “inappropriate content” and said the chapter would be rewritten in consultation with appropriate authorities before being reissued, even as officials said tighter review mechanisms for future textbooks are now being examined.
