By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Guwahati: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has asked Congress chief ministers of the northeast states to ensure that the changes in the NCERT syllabus on the history and culture of the northeastern states, as recommended by the Bezbaruah Committee, are meaningful.
She told the CMs that the Centre does not act on the Bezbaruah Committee’s recommendations; the Congress-governed states in the region should do whatever is possible to implement the recommendations in their own states.
In a letter to Chief Minister Gogoi, the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said that Government of Assam has to prepare itself to make representations to ensure that the changes in the NCERT syllabus are meaningful in case the Centre decides to update the syllabus as per the recommendations made by the Bezbaruah Committee.
The UPA Chairperson, in her letter, pointed out that in the event the Centre does not act on the Bezbaruah Committee recommendations, the Congress-governed States in the Northeast ‘should do whatever is possible to implement them within their own States’.
Gandhi said the NCERT syllabus need to be amended suitably as per the recommendations of the Bezbaruah Committee set up by the UPA Government in February 2014 to make students across India ‘more sensitive to the history and culture of the northeastern states’.
“In the light of what we see to be widespread prejudice and ignorance, which tragically manifests itself in Delhi and elsewhere through violence and discrimination against people of northeastern origin, I believe that there is an urgent need to make people around the country more familiar with the culture, society and history of these areas,” she added.
The UPA Chairperson further asked the Chief Minister to initiate steps to capture comprehensively the history and culture of the State and the region in the existing syllabus. “At the meeting (of Congress parliamentarians from the northeastern states) it was evident that the existing syllabus in your state does not also comprehensively capture these elements (history and culture) about the northeastern region. I would like to urge you to rectify this as soon as possible and introduce the history and culture of your state and the region as a whole in the syllabi in an appropriate manner. It would be good if the states of the northeast were to work together to achieve this,” she added.
Gandhi also urged Gogoi to initiate steps to identify and highlight the contributions of freedom fighters from the Northeast to create an awareness of their contributions within and outside the State.
“I believe that there is an urgent need to recognise and appreciate the contribution of freedom fighters from the Northeast,” she said.
Chief Minister Gogoi appreciated the initiatives of Sonia Gandhi to give the North East part of the country a rightful and meaningful place vis-a-vis its history and culture, in the NCERT syllabus as per the recommendations of the Bezbaruah Committee. Gogoi assured her that the Government would take prompt steps to introduce the history and culture of the State and the region as a whole in the NCERT syllabi in proper perspectives and to effect necessary changes in the existing syllabus in the State.