Students Pledge Dated 24.11.2023 –
In response to the recommendation of a high level NCERT panel to include Vedas, Ramayana and Mahabharata in history syllabus, Sourav Ghosh, General Secretary of AIDSO has issued the following statement:
“The recommendation of the NCERT high-level panel to include the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in the history syllabus is part of an ongoing attempt to distort the scientific study of history in our country. The Ramayana and Mahabharata are epics considered as part of the Hindu pantheon. The panel has recommended these texts be included under a new classification of history – ‘India’s Classical Period’, and the panel has also classified history into four periods: Classical period, Medieval period, British era, and Modern India.
It’s noteworthy that the historians have divided the history of India, on the basis of scientific study and evidence, into three phases: Ancient India from 3000BC to 700AD, Medieval India from 700AD to 1700AD, and Modern India from 1750AD up to now which has been taught from school education to higher studies. There is no such ‘Classical Period’ in history.
But ironically, in spite of having such huge scientific evidences, the central government, through the NCERT, is now destroying the scientific process of knowing and studying history!
The Ramayana and Mahabharata are Epics that are literary masterpieces of its time! However, they are also works of imagination that uphold the moral values and ethics of those times. As such, these values and ethics are redundant in modern times. By making these texts a part of the school syllabus, the attempt is to present these imaginary works as real historical events before a new generation of students who have not yet developed a discerning capacity. This will not only help the brazenly unscientific narrative that imaginary objects like the ‘Pushpaka Vimana’ were actual inventions of ancient India, but will also undoubtedly help the Hindutva agenda of the ruling dispensation. It should be noted that the committee has also recommended the inclusion of the Indian Knowledge System, the Vedas, and Ayurveda as part of the syllabus! While what is being peddled as the Indian Knowledge System and Ayurveda is highly unscientific, the Vedas are an out-and-out religious text that should not find any space in a modern school syllabus. If implemented, such a syllabus goes against every ethos of modern, scientific, and secular education which was the demand of our Renaissance thinkers and uncompromising freedom fighters.
AIDSO demands that the recommendations of the NCERT high-level panel be quashed and calls upon all to remain vigilant against such moves to destroy scientific education in the country.”
