NCERT adds section on Emergency in Class 9 textbook for first time

The National Council of Educational Research and Training has, for the first time, introduced the topic of the Emergency imposed from 1975 to 1977 in a Class 9 social science textbook, ANI reported on Thursday.

The section has been added to the textbook Understanding Society: India and Beyond. The Emergency has been made part of a chapter that deals with the strengths and challenges of democracy in the country.

Until now, a detailed examination of the Emergency only took place in the Class 12 political science curriculum, which includes extracts on the political, constitutional and democratic implications of the period, India Today reported.

“One of the major challenges to democracy in India was recorded when an Emergency was imposed in 1975-77,” the section reads, according to ANI. “In the early 1970s, public dissatisfaction with the government led by Indira Gandhi was growing. Rising unemployment, inflation, and allegations of misgovernance led to widespread protests.”

The textbook says that during the Emergency, most fundamental rights were suspended, the press was censored, and political leaders and activists were arrested.

The book also highlights the role of socialist leader Jayprakash Narayan in resisting the Emergency.

“Mass movements led by Jayaprakash Narayan – a political leader and socialist thinker, popularly known as Lok Nayak-mobilised students and citizens, especially in Bihar and Gujarat,” the...

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