New tweaks in Class 12 history book: Doubts over Aryan migration

FROM THE ASSERTION that recent studies of ancient DNA obtained from archaeological sources at Rakhigarhi, an Indus Valley site in Haryana, rule out Aryan immigration to a call for more research into whether the Harappans and the Vedic people were the same.

- RITIKA CHOPRA

These are some of the significant changes introduced by the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) in the history chapter meant for Class 12 students on the origins and fall of the Harappan Valley civilisation.

These changes are part of the revision and updating of history textbooks undertaken by NCERT for the academic year 2024-25, which were recently communicated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

NCERT, which advises the Union government on school education, is the apex body tasked with drafting school textbooks used by more than four crore students annually.

Although changes have been carried out in History and Sociology textbooks for Classes 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12, the most substantive have been made to the Chapter titled "Bricks, Beads and Bones - The Harappan Civilisation" in the Class 12 History textbook called 'Themes in India History Part-I.'

The additions and deletions related to the Harappan Civilisation have been justified on the grounds that 'recent evidence from archaeological sites' warrants a 'correction' in the said chapter.

The additions primarily emphasise the 'unbroken continuity for 5000 years' of the Harappan civilization, reference recent archaeogenetic research conducted at the Rakhigarhi site to rule out Aryan immigration, and suggest that the Harappans practised some form of democratic system.

For instance, to emphasise 'continuity', NCERT NCERT has deleted a sentence that states "It appears that there was a break between the Early Harappan and the Harappan civilisation, evident from large-scale burning at some sites, as well as the abandonment of certain settlements."