Flood Control- Ad Hoc Approach Continues

THE reports that a section ot the Janata party leadership has taken exception to some history textbooks and has urged their withdrawal are most disquieting. The -notesubmitted to the prime minister in this regard has not been published; but apparently authentic accounts of it provide sufficient indications of the inspiration behind these moves. It is not clear what action government proposes to take in this regard; but if one were to go by the remarks of the Union education minister in the Lok Sabha on July 22 (while answering questions on the committee set up by the new government to "review the syllabi and publications of the NCERT foi classes 1 to 10"), and on July 30 in the Rajya Sabha (while replying to a debate on a Congress-sponsored resolution calling for -reorientationof the study of mediaeval history), some action is indeed contemplated, and reports have it that the impugned textbooks are already being scrutinised by the -review' committee, headed, incidentally, by Ishvarbhai Patel, vice-chancellor of Gujarat University.