NCERT books responsible for 'anarchic trends' in society: ICCSR chief

Says textbooks are driven by political agenda

The new chief of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) believes that textbooks published by the government are responsible for "anarchic trends" in society.

Anthropologist BB Kumar, who took over as the head of the apex body promoting research in social sciences on May 5, said the books published by the National Council Of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), were driven by a "political agenda", and urged the government to review them.

"The NCERT textbooks are driven by political agenda and are partly responsible for the increasing social conflicts and anarchical trends in society," he said in a 2016 editorial in a journal called Dialogue that he edited.

Kumar, who also edited a quarterly called Chintan Srijan, had in earlier columns described Narendra Modi as "the best Prime Minister and the worst victim of intolerance" and held that caste and untouchability were a result of Arab, Turk and Mughal invasions.

He also said Macaulayism and the dominance of Marxists were the most potent weapons imported by the Britishers into India, which led to the country's intellectual decline.

Kumar, 76, who took over from economist S K Thorat, had served as the principal of the Sao Change Government College in Tuensang, Nagaland, and Science College in Kohima, and authored or edited 136 books.