07-21-2004, 05:31 PM
<b>Did HRD minister's panel of historians lie to him ? </b> - Pioneer
Udayan Namboodiri/ New Delhi
Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh's panel of historians had lied to him about the NCERT books.<b> One of the "eminent" historians, JS Grewal, had ordered a ban on Meenakshi Jain's Medieval India, a textbook for Class XI, without even bothering to give it a read.</b>
So, how did he come to his grand conclusion that the NCERT's book authored by Jain was undesirable for study ? Instead of reading Medieval India, he decided to go through the Indian History Congress (IHC)'s much-discredited Index of Errors which Jain, during the JS Rajput era, had already demolished through the NCERT's August 2003 riposte, Fallacies in the IHC Report. After that, the IHC, a known Leftist bastion, retreated from the debate over textbooks, its "eminent" members preferring to operate through allegations in the friendly media.
Whereas the HRD Minstry, in its published Order of June 12 had asked Grewal and two other historians, S. Settar and Barun De, to "do a quick review of these (NCERT) books and suggest what needs to be done in the short term", the former Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak University digressed from his brief and decided to act as an apologist for IHC. In his six-and-a-half page criticism of Medieval India, Grewal has used pretty strong words against Jain, both from the professional and personal standpoints. At one place the former Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak University even chides Jain as a "well read student at the Master's level" even though she holds a doctorate in History. But, not once did he refer directly to the book he was supposed to review.
This is first apparent by matching the references Grewal makes to the page numbers. <b>His opening attack on Jain is over her alleged downplaying of one of the founders of the Bhakti cult, Sant Kabir. According to him, Kabir features on "page 191" and that too only in passing. But this is page 191 of Fallacies and not Medieval India. Actually, there is one big paragraph on Kabir in Medieval India spread over pages 125 and 126</b>.
Grewal uses up over 200 words to pick holes in Jain's riposte to the IHC over Kabir but ignores the basic truth. Similarly, Grewal alleges that Jain had given short shrift to Hindu-Muslim "cultural rapprochement". He refers to Jain's portion in Fallacies, but not the extensive coverage given by her over pages 120, 128 and 221.
At the end of a rambling essay on what Jain ought to have written in her reply to the IHC, <b>Grewal frustrates the discerning reader by his reluctance to reveal what is wrong with Meenakshi Jain's book</b>. Yet, surprisingly, the NCERT Executive Committee glossed over this aspect while passing its sweeping judgement against the book at its extended meeting on Monday.
An enraged Jain said she is considering legal action against Grewal.<b> "The man is shameless. I wrote to him after getting a copy of the report, but instead of acknowledging his crime, he went on to give statements that my book should be banned immediately"</b>, she added. <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Udayan Namboodiri/ New Delhi
Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh's panel of historians had lied to him about the NCERT books.<b> One of the "eminent" historians, JS Grewal, had ordered a ban on Meenakshi Jain's Medieval India, a textbook for Class XI, without even bothering to give it a read.</b>
So, how did he come to his grand conclusion that the NCERT's book authored by Jain was undesirable for study ? Instead of reading Medieval India, he decided to go through the Indian History Congress (IHC)'s much-discredited Index of Errors which Jain, during the JS Rajput era, had already demolished through the NCERT's August 2003 riposte, Fallacies in the IHC Report. After that, the IHC, a known Leftist bastion, retreated from the debate over textbooks, its "eminent" members preferring to operate through allegations in the friendly media.
Whereas the HRD Minstry, in its published Order of June 12 had asked Grewal and two other historians, S. Settar and Barun De, to "do a quick review of these (NCERT) books and suggest what needs to be done in the short term", the former Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak University digressed from his brief and decided to act as an apologist for IHC. In his six-and-a-half page criticism of Medieval India, Grewal has used pretty strong words against Jain, both from the professional and personal standpoints. At one place the former Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak University even chides Jain as a "well read student at the Master's level" even though she holds a doctorate in History. But, not once did he refer directly to the book he was supposed to review.
This is first apparent by matching the references Grewal makes to the page numbers. <b>His opening attack on Jain is over her alleged downplaying of one of the founders of the Bhakti cult, Sant Kabir. According to him, Kabir features on "page 191" and that too only in passing. But this is page 191 of Fallacies and not Medieval India. Actually, there is one big paragraph on Kabir in Medieval India spread over pages 125 and 126</b>.
Grewal uses up over 200 words to pick holes in Jain's riposte to the IHC over Kabir but ignores the basic truth. Similarly, Grewal alleges that Jain had given short shrift to Hindu-Muslim "cultural rapprochement". He refers to Jain's portion in Fallacies, but not the extensive coverage given by her over pages 120, 128 and 221.
At the end of a rambling essay on what Jain ought to have written in her reply to the IHC, <b>Grewal frustrates the discerning reader by his reluctance to reveal what is wrong with Meenakshi Jain's book</b>. Yet, surprisingly, the NCERT Executive Committee glossed over this aspect while passing its sweeping judgement against the book at its extended meeting on Monday.
An enraged Jain said she is considering legal action against Grewal.<b> "The man is shameless. I wrote to him after getting a copy of the report, but instead of acknowledging his crime, he went on to give statements that my book should be banned immediately"</b>, she added. <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->