NCERT Class 9 book adds Emergency, drops Preamble and Secularism

A new National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Class 9 Social Science textbook released on Thursday introduces a discussion on the Emergency imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi while omitting the Preamble and references to "secular" and "secularism" that featured prominently in the previous Class 9 textbook, triggering a political row

The revised textbook, released under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023, discusses the Constitution through its making, democratic institutions and fundamental rights but does not reproduce the Preamble or explain its terminology. It also introduces the Emergency for the first time in the revised Class 9 curriculum, describing it as a period when democratic institutions came under severe strain and citizens' freedoms were curtailed.