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Journalism of Courage
In his first rollback, HRD Minister Arjun Singh today withdrew the printing ban on Congress leader Karan Singh’s Vedanta, and the English translation of Tirukkural — two books published by the NCERT.
The Indian Express had reported yesterday that a verbal message communicated on Tuesday had ordered printing restrictions on three books.
Besides these, the axe had also fallen on an NCERT project entitled Aaj Ki Shikshak.
The last book highlighted the lives of dedicated teachers who had participated in the freedom struggle. But what could definitely be questioned about it was the criteria adopted to choose the teachers.
Yesterday morning, the NCERT received a couple of phone calls from Chennai, including one from the
Culture Secretary of the Tamil Nadu government.
Later, in the afternoon,
K. Malaisamy of the AIADMK filed a strongly worded notice calling for the attention of Arjun Singh. The notice requested the Union HRD Minister to make a statement as a ‘‘grave situation has arisen in Tamil Nadu consequent to the stoppage of printing of the age-old, ancient, world-renowned classic, Tirukkural, a code of ethics and guide of conduct…’’. On Thursday evening, the Ministry made a number of inquiries on the three books.
A written note was sent, asking who had permitted the printing of the books, who the authors were and who had planned these publications in the first place.
This morning, however, the HRD Ministry sent yet another note, withdrawing the printing restrictions on both Vedanta and Tirukkural.
However, the ban on the printing of Aaj Ki Shikshak continues.
