New Delhi (TIP): A new National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Class 9 Social Science textbook released on Thursday, June 25, 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.
The changes reignited a political battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, with Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan saying future generations should understand the “dark deeds of the Emergency” and the Congress alleging that the move was driven by “divisive politics” and an attack on constitutional values. In the earlier textbook, Democratic Politics-I, an entire chapter titled Constitutional Design was devoted to explaining the making of the Constitution. The chapter used the Preamble as the central framework for introducing students to constitutional values and described it as a document that “contains the philosophy on which the entire Constitution has been built”. Students were taught the meaning of “Sovereign”, “Socialist”, “Secular”, “Democratic” and “Republic”. The chapter said the Preamble “reads like a poem on democracy” and explained secularism as a system with “no official religion” where the state accords equal respect to all faiths.
In the new textbook, the Constitution is discussed through sections on the Constituent Assembly, constitution-making, democratic institutions and fundamental rights. The textbook notes that the Constituent Assembly was formed in 1946 to draft a Constitution for independent India and describes the Constitution as a “robust, flexible, transformative, and responsive” document. It also emphasises liberty, equality, justice and fraternity, and discusses rights relating to equality, freedom and religion.
However, the new textbook does not reproduce the Preamble or explain its terminology. A review of the text shows that the words “secular” and “secularism” do not appear in the volume. Nor does the book indicate that these concepts will be taken up in later grades.
The Emergency was previously discussed in NCERT’s Class 12 Political Science textbook, introduced in 2007 and still in use. This is the first time the subject has been incorporated into the revised Class 9 curriculum being rolled out under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023.
The newly released 220-page textbook, Understanding Society: India and Beyond-Part 1, replaces separate textbooks for history, geography, political science and economics that were in use till the 2025-26 academic session. The integrated textbook, to be used from the 2026-27 academic year, contains two chapters each from the four disciplines.
A section titled “Challenges to Democratic Practices in India” under a chapter on democracy introduces the Emergency.
“In June 1975, a National Emergency was imposed on the grounds of internal disturbance. During this period, a majority of Fundamental Rights were suspended, the press was censored, and numerous political leaders and activists were arrested. Democratic institutions came under severe strain, and citizens’ freedom was restricted,” the book said.
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