NCERT panel to examine textbooks after Rajasthan royal heirs object to map

Kolhapur: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has set up a committee of experts from educational institutions, led by its curriculum department head Ranjana Arora, to examine the content of CBSE textbooks. This comes in the backdrop of the criticism it is facing from descendants of Rajasthan royal families over a map in the Class 8 social science book that shows their erstwhile states under the Maratha Empire. "NCERT has received feedback about the educational content in a few textbooks. Hence, a committee of experts is being constituted as per its established practice. This committee will examine the feedback in light of the available evidence and submit its report at the earliest possible," a press release issued by NCERT said, without any reference to the map or the book. Among those who have objected to the map printed on page 71 of unit 3, ‘Rise of Marathas' in the textbook, ‘Exploring Society: India and Beyond', are Chaitanya Raj Singh, head or Maharawal of Jaisalmer, Bhupesh Singh Hada, heir of the royal family of Bundi, Vishvaraj Singh Mewar, descendant of Maharana Pratap, and former Union minister and Congress politician Jitendra Singh, who is a member of the erstwhile Alwar royal family. They claimed that in the 18th century, the princely states of Rajasthan-Marwar, Mewar, Bikaner, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Jaipur, and Alwar maintained their independence and autonomy and were never under the domination of the Marathas, never paid any taxes, and there was never any interference of the Marathas in the administration. Hada even went on to say that the Maratha Empire was a fictitious entity.Some of them also tagged Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on X, while some of the BJP MPs associated with the royal families met him in person and registered their objection. Maratha historians, however, have countered their claims, stating that the 1752 Ahadnama treaty between the Marathas and Mughals led to Maratha domination over the princely states controlled by the Mughals, which included princely states from Rajasthan.The Scindia Research Centre, an initiative of the Scindias of Gwalior, has put out several posts on its official X handle. Citing a collection of treaties, engagements, and sanadas published in 1909, the centre said, "The British emerged victorious against the Scindia Marathas, following a valiant resistance from the latter. The British then proceeded to forge individual friendship treaties with several states in what is now Rajasthan, which had formerly paid tribute to the Marathas." The centre also cited V P Menon, then secretary in the ministry of states between 1947 and 1951, who stated in the book "Integration of Indian States": "By 1792, Madhoji Scindia (Mahadji Shinde) had established his ascendancy over the Rajputs and the Jats, and his power and splendour in northern India were absolute."Historians seek govt interventionMaratha historians have urged the Maharashtra govt to approach the Centre and stop NCERT from bowing down to Rajput royal heirs. "Maps were prepared later by the historians. Historians like Jadunath Sarkar and Irfan Habib have presented maps of the expanse of various empires such as the Mughals and Marathas. The map shown in the NCERT textbook is of a period called the ‘high tide of the Marathas', especially under the military leadership of Mahadji Shinde and Malharrao Holkar. The Marathas had killedars in the fort of Peshawar, Kandahar, Attock, and even Delhi's Red Fort," said Kolhapur-based historian Indrajit Sawant. Sawant further said the Rajputs were under Mughal domination, and when the Marathas got total influence on the Mughal Badshah, the influence spread across. "There was no direct domination of the Marathas, but so was that of the Mughals across areas shown in the maps in history books. We demand that state govt approach Centre and stop NCERT from making changes in the map. The map can, however, be made clearer as to the areas of direct domination and indirect domination, mentioning the context to avoid the struggle over history."