From Tipu Sultan to Swami Vivekananda: All that stays plus all that goes from Karnataka's school textbooks

Karnataka's education department’s textbook revision committee has retained information on Tipu Sultan and the Anglo-Mysore wars, removed “irrelevant information” about the Tiger of Mysore, while including the speech on ‘personality development’ by KB Hedgewar, the founding Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). This has been done for Class X students.

The committee has also introduced additional information on Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Swami Vivekananda in the revised Kannada first language textbook for Class X, besides including chapters on four other leaders, the chapters on whom were removed in 2014, education department’s textbook committee head Rohit Chakratheertha told The New Indian Express.

With growing opposition from leaders across parties — including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal — over the alleged removal of a chapter on Shaheed Bhagat Singh from the revised textbook, the State Textbook Society on Tuesday, May 17, clarified that they had not removed the chapter on the martyr from the revised Kannada first language textbook for Class X.

Chakratheertha, Chairman of the committee to revise Social Science textbooks from Classes VI to X and Kannada textbooks from Classes I to X, said contrary to rumours about removing chapters on Bhagat Singh, they had instead added information about him.

He said when textbooks were revised in 2014, information about Swami Vivekananda’s famous Chicago speech had not been included. Now, that is in and the content is revised with “factual content” about him.

While retaining information about Tipu Sultan, the committee has removed “irrelevant portions” pertaining to his contributions to Mysuru, Nanjangud, and Ramanagar, Chakratheertha said.

The Managing Director of Karnataka Textbook Society Madegowda MP said that among 534 title books, 83 titles are revised and approved. The printing process is on, he added.