The controversy surrounding a withdrawn Class 8 social science textbook has highlighted gaps in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) process for approving new books. The textbook, which included a chapter on judicial corruption, was withdrawn after a Supreme Court order.
HT's reporting shows that the 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching-Learning Material Committee (NSTC) did not explicitly approve the book, with many members ignoring the draft sent to them via WhatsApp and email. The section on judicial corruption was explicitly flagged to the committee, but it was not addressed.
The NCERT process involves a three-stage approval process: the Textbook Development Team (TDT), the Curricular Area Groups (CAGs), and the NSTC. The TDT drafts the chapters, while the CAGs oversee the TDTs and handle textbooks of several classes. The NSTC gives final academic approval to new books.
However, in this case, the draft of the chapters was placed before the 35-member CAG of social science in a hybrid meeting in September 2025 for finalisation. Several members of the 13-member National Oversight Committee (NOC) also attended the meeting, but the suggestions and objections raised by NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani and others were not accepted by the TDT.
The book still had to be approved by NSTC, but the process was not followed. A draft was shared with the members over email and WhatsApp, but it is not clear who among the members saw them and who didn't. The last meeting of NSTC was in June 2025, and the body includes academics who live and work out of India.
The education ministry official cited above claimed that the reason NSTC did not meet is because its members are very busy. The panel includes Shankar Mahadevan, Rajya Sabha MP and author Sudha Murthy, and Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the economic advisory council to the Prime Minister. All three did not respond to HT's messages seeking comment.
The shared drafts elicited no objections from NSTC, and according to the first officer HT spoke to, some members even endorsed the book in its entirety. HT could not ascertain which ones did –– and NCERT's affidavit is silent on this, attributing the lapse solely to the TDT headed by Professor Danino.
