NCERT: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) panel has proposed to replace “India” with “Bharat” universally in all school textbooks. NCERT Director said that right now this is just a recommendation and it is yet to be approved.
The proposal was made several months ago
NCERT Director said that at present we have not accepted anything. The panel sent its report, this proposal was put forward several months ago. This development comes at a time when the Center is facing strong reaction from the opposition over writing ‘Bharat’ instead of ‘India’ in official documents, the first such mention of which was made in the invitation to an ASEAN event, in which PM Modi was addressed as ‘India’. Has been referred to as “the Prime Minister of”.
The meaning of the word ‘India’ as reflected in the Constitution
However, the controversy escalated when Rashtrapati Bhavan sent an invitation on behalf of the ‘President of India’ to the G20 dinner on 9 September. Amidst all this, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said that the meaning of the word ‘India’ is reflected in the Constitution. India, i.e. Bharat, is in the Constitution. Please, I would invite everyone to read it,” Jaishankar had said while speaking to news agency ANI.
Why the sudden hatred for the name India?
The minister was questioned about the reaction of the opposition parties and whether the government intends to rebrand India as “Bharat” in line with the G20 summit. Congress leader Priyank Kharge, speaking about the Centre’s move to change the names on NCERT books, said that the move was very clear. The government is in a race to change the name. There are no game changing plans happening, only name changing plans. Why the sudden hatred for the name India? Why did he wait for nine years?”