Husain to be part of NCERT books

BJP and RSS had raised objections to this, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Nov 18, 2006, 21:28:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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MF Husain and Avtar Singh Pash will remain part of NCERT Hindi textbooks despite objections by BJP and RSS.

An expert panel headed by Professor Yash Pal and constituted by the HRD Ministry to examine the Hindi textbooks has reportedly backed NCERT in selection of literature for its Hindi textbooks.

“Only minor changes have been recommended. It will not have any major impact on Hindi syllabus,” a ministry official said.

The report submitted to the ministry about a week ago has suggested deletion of certain words in the literature written by Om Prakash Valmiki terming the language used as unconstitutional.

On the other objectionable references, the committee said the language usage should be seen ‘holistically’ rather than in a subjective manner.

BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad had objected to a poem, Sabse Khatarnak by Punjabi writer Avatar Singh Pash, stating it was a work of a Naxalite. The committee didn’t agree.

“Pash was a social activist and his poem is thought of a beautiful young mind,” a committee member said. In the poem, Pash had said, that losing dreams is more dangerous than suffering. Prasad had, however, said that Pash had tried to glorify Naxalism and NCERT was polluting young minds.

Outside Parliament, the tirade against MF Husain’s biography by RSS was extended to Yash Pal’s home. He received number of post-cards written by students of Vidya Bharati Schools objecting to inclusion of his biography in the NCERT textbooks on the pretext that he had allegedly depicted Hindu Gods and Goddesses in a wrong light.

But, the committee went by artistic excellence of Husain, termed as Picasso of India, and exonerated him on of any bias. “Children have a right to learn about the country’s greatest painter irrespective of political action against him,” the member said.

Objections to the usage of words like Tim Tom Lagti Hai and Ullu were also rejected. “Modern day films like Munnai Bhai uses more foul language but nobody objects. Literature is an art and needs to be seen in that respect,” he urged.

The ministry officials said the report is likely to be tabled in the winter session of Parliament for further discussion by the members.

Email chetan@hindustantimes.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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