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No difference between India, Bharat: Union education minister amid NCERT row
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that there is no difference between India and Bharat, and that some people are creating controversy over it.
New Delhi: There is no difference between India and Bharat, but some “frustrated people” are competing with one another to create a controversy over it, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Thursday.
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said a “controversy has been going on for some time on whether our country should be known as India or Bharat.”
The minister’s comments came a day after a political row was triggered over suggestions made by a high-level committee constituted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to replace “India” with “Bharat” in all textbooks. It evoked sharp reactions from opposition parties, particularly those from the southern states, who described the move a “political gimmick” and an “attempt to distort history”.
Pradhan, who was addressing a Vice Chancellors’ Conference on implementation of National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 in Narmada district of Gujarat, said a “controversy has been going on for some time on whether our country should be known as India or Bharat.”
“But what is the difference? There is no difference between Bharat and India. Bharat is the name of this country. It was during the colonial period that the English-speaking people gave the country the name India,” he said. “Our Constitution have given significance to both Bharat and India.”
The minister added: “Bharat is an Indian name; the original name since the beginning of the civilisation. However, these days, in the mind of a few frustrated people there is a competition going on to create a controversy around it.”
On Wednesday, NCERT’s social science panel chairperson CI Issac said the proposed name change was part of the unanimous recommendations by the seven-member panel in its final position paper. However, NCERT chairperson Dinesh Saklani clarified that no decision has been taken yet on the panel’s recommendations.
“Response to the uproar on the recommendation of India to be mentioned as Bharat in textbooks… NCERT states that since the development of new syllabus and textbooks is in the process and for that purpose various curricular area groups of domain experts are being notified by the NCERT. So, it is too premature to comment,” NCERT posted on X on Wednesday.
