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This story is from July 28, 2014

English, Urdu words in NCERT’s Hindi books irk RSS’s Batra

Dinanath Batra of RSS is upset that despite his multiple successes and work as a Hindu pedagogue, NCERT has not yet changed its Hindi textbooks.
English, Urdu words in NCERT’s Hindi books irk RSS’s Batra
NEW DELHI: Dinanath Batra of RSS is upset that despite his multiple successes and work as a Hindu pedagogue, NCERT has not yet changed its Hindi textbooks. What he finds objectionable in Hindi textbooks range from the use of English and Urdu words to reference to Maqbool Fida Husain and poet Avtar Singh Pash who had dabbled in Naxal politics in the early years to unsavoury presentation of Bhakti poetess Mira and Saivite Akka Mahadevi.

Batra, who heads Shiksha Bachao Andolan, said, “We had prepared a booklet on NCERT Hindi textbooks. We have sent it to HRD minister Smriti Irani. I am hopeful she will review them.” He said though many changes were carried out in history textbooks due to court cases, Hindi did not get similar attention.
Batra is outraged at the use of English words and phrases like ‘vice-chancellor’, ‘worker’, ‘business’, ‘backbone’, ‘plan’, ‘you get out’, ‘of course’, ‘frock’, ‘half-yearly’, ‘seminars’, ‘cultural’, ‘horticulture’, ‘canvas’, ‘organize’, ‘thank you’ and many others. In the process, Batra mixed names of places like ‘Scandal Point’ and restaurant ‘Devicos’ – both in Shimla – with English words and included them in the list of English words that need to be deleted from Hindi textbooks.
Similarly, a longer list of Urdu words have been compiled which includes even those used commonly like ‘mushkil’ (difficult), ‘dost’ (friend), ‘gussa’ (anger), ‘shararat’ (naughtiness), ‘khabardar’ (to warn), ‘gayab’ (vanish), ‘saal’ (year), ‘mohalla’ (colony), ‘mauka’ (occasion), ‘aksar’ (often), ‘mauj udana’ (to have fun), ‘farsh’ (floor), ‘himmat’ (courage) and many not-so-common words. Batra said, “Use of Urdu, Persian and English words has created a challenge for students. Instead of enjoying the text, children have lost interest.”
Batra also raised questions about various chapters of textbooks. For instance, he does not approve of a poem in Class III Rimjhim textbook that talks of a child’s dream to become like his father and lord over others.
Batra’s objection to including a biographical sketch of Husain is that the artist had depicted Bharat Mata in the nude. He said the Class XI textbook, while talking of Akka Mahadevi, says that while abandoning her royal life, she discarded clothes which was not the correct description. Similarly, he does not agree with the Class XI textbook that Mira danced and sang publicly.
Batra also questioned the glorification of someone like Pash who talks of class struggle, untouchability and social inequality. Instead, he said, it would have been better to talk of brotherhood. He pointed out many more things which he would like Irani to rectify.
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