NCERT adds Article 370 to syllabus

New Delhi: The NCERT has revised a chapter in its Class 12 political science textbook to drop a paragraph on separatist politics in Jammu and Kashmir and to add a brief mention of scrapping of its special status last year.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has revised the chapter in the textbook "Politics in India since Independence" for the academic session 2020-21.

While the topic "Separatism and Beyond" has been deleted from the chapter, the scrapping of Article 370, which gave the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir special status, has been included under the topic "Regional Aspirations".

On August 5 last year, the Centre had scrapped the state's special status and divided it into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

"One strand of separatists who want a separate Kashmiri nation, independent of India and Pakistan. Then there are groups that want Kashmir to merge with Pakistan. Besides these, there is a third strand, which wants greater autonomy for the people of the state within the Indian union," the deleted portion read.

The chapter then talks about the President's Rule imposed in June 2018 after the BJP withdrew its support to the Mehbooba Mufti government and towards the end mentions the withdrawal of Article 370.

The revised portion, where the chapter talks about Jammu and Kashmir, says, "Jammu and Kashmir had a special status under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. However, in spite of it, the region witnessed violence, cross-border terrorism and political instability with internal and external ramifications".

"The Article resulted in the loss of many lives, including that of innocent civilians, security personnel and militants. Besides, there was also a large scale displacement of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley," it read.