April 25, 2023

In india, starting in the new school year which begins shortly, the chapter on “Heredity and Evolution” will be replaced with one on “Heredity,” in science textbooks for Class (Grade) 10. Among the topics dropped from the book are Fossils, Evolution, Human Evolution, Tracing Evolutionary Relationships and Acquired and Inherited Traits.

Charles Darwin’s “scientific theory of evolution by natural selection became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies,” notes Britannica, an encyclopedia. “Although Darwin's theory of evolution has been modified over time, it remains fundamental to the study of the natural world,” according to Britain’s Natural History Museum. “Darwin changed not only the way we see all organisms, but also the way we see ourselves.”

Last week, in an open letter, more than 1,800 scientists, science teachers and others in India noted that evolutionary biology has “a huge impact on how we choose to deal with an array of problems we face as societies and nations from medicine and drug discovery, epidemiology, ecology and environment, to psychology…Students will remain seriously handicapped in their thought processes if deprived of exposure to this fundamental discovery of science.”

The letter seeks restoration of the theory of evolution in high school textbooks. The petition was organized by the Breakthrough Science Society, “a voluntary organization committed to the Cause of Science, Culture and Scientific Outlook,” based in Kolkata, India. 

In 2018, Satyapal Singh, who was then India’s Minister of State for Human Resource Development, said that “Nobody, including our ancestors, in writing or orally, have said they saw an ape turning into a man. Darwin’s theory (of evolution of humans) is scientifically wrong. It needs to change in school and college curricula." Singh, who was a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, repeatedly sought the change.

The theory of evolution was deleted from the textbooks as part of a “rationalization exercise” being implemented by India’s National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

Set up in 1961 as an autonomous body, NCERT is now apparently being run by officials seeking to rewrite textbooks by ignoring facts which do not fit their ideological interpretations. NCERT is also making changes in other textbooks saying they are based on input from education experts.

Sections in textbooks, which were deleted or modified, include about the Mughals, who ruled parts of Northern India from the 16th to the 18th Centuries; Mahatma Gandhi, who led India’s struggle for freedom from British rule; Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse; reference to Hindu extremists; and the 2002 riots in Gujerat, in which more than a thousand Muslims were killed, when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of the state.

The political science textbook for Class 11, for instance, removed references to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was one of the leaders of India’s freedom struggle. A Muslim, Azad was India’s first education minister.

In 2021, Baba Ramdev, a yoga guru and swami, was selling a potion that he claimed will get rid of COVID-19 infections. With no medical or other college education, he also offers cures for cancer, diabetes, arthritis and several other ailments, which have not been approved by any credible authority.

Following a recommendation of the government of Uttar Pradesh, colleges and universities in the state included one of Baba Ramdev’s books on Yoga in their undergraduate philosophy curriculum. The government in India’s largest state is run by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In 1923, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar wrote a book Hinditva: Who Is a Hindu?, while in prison for his alleged role in the killing of a judge. Hindutva is now a major tenet of Hindu nationalism, the ideology of the Hindu far right, which seeks to establish the hegemony of Hindus in India.

"In the room where Savarkar was jailed, there was not even a small keyhole. However, bulbul birds would visit the room from somewhere, on whose wings Savarkar would sit and fly out to visit the motherland every day." This is a passage from a chapter on Savarkar (1883-1966), which was included in an 8th grade Kannada language textbook, in 2022. The textbook is used in government-run and government-subsidized schools in Karnataka state, which is ruled by the BJP.

Karnataka’s capital is Bangalore where the main Indian operations of Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other global technology companies are based, as well as where Infosys, Wipro and other major Indian technology companies have their headquarters.

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