However, educators and activists have urged the government to study the issue before taking a final call.
Karnataka’s Minister of Primary and Secondary Education S Suresh Kumar on Thursday ordered the Commissioner of Public Instruction (CPI) to take action to remove relevant paragraphs from the Class 6 Social Sciences textbook that were deemed “suggestive remarks. against the Brahmin community. “
In a note to the CPI, Kumar said the paragraphs on pages 82 and 83 are irrelevant and not suitable for such a young age. “The CPI must take steps to issue a circular that removes this lesson from the syllabus with immediate effect,” he said in his note.
Citing excerpts from the textbooks, Kumar stated that the Kshatriyas who had to advise the Brahmins all the time were fed up and were responsible for the new religions ushering in society. “The Kshatriyas are those who encouraged the flourishing of new religions such as Jainism and Buddhism in the country,” the minister noted in his note.
A delegation from the Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board met with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa with an official representation on the issue. The junta sought the removal of portions of a chapter that spoke of food shortages in the Vedic period (1500 BC to 600 BC) because the homa and havana (fire rituals) were performed offering large quantities of cereals, milk, butter and other materials. Times of India reported.
The minister’s note sent to the CPI said that lesson number seven of the Class 6 Social Sciences textbook entitled ‘Emergence of New Religions’ mentions that Brahmans used to offer sacrifices as agricultural animals and offered milk and butter to the fire god during ‘havan’. , which caused food shortages in those days.
“Those anomalies that have infiltrated the textbook should be discarded, as they hurt religious sentiments,” he said in his note.
However, the government’s decision to remove the paragraphs has come as a surprise, and educators and activists in the state say the issue needs to be studied thoroughly before making such a decision.
Last year, the Karnataka government found itself under pressure to remove chapters related to Tipu Sultan, the former ruler of the Mysore kingdom. After studying the issue, the state government dropped the proposal.
.
