New Delhi, February 26 The Union Ministry of Education wrote to the ministries of information and broadcasting, and electronics on Thursday, asking them to stop the dissemination of a controversial NCERT textbook through digital platforms and electronic media, officials said.
This directive comes after the Supreme Court on Thursday imposed a "complete ban" on any further publication, reprinting, or digital dissemination of the NCERT's Class 8 social science book, as it contained "offensive" content on corruption in the judiciary, saying "a gunshot has been fired and the institution is bleeding."
"While the NCERT and related agencies are removing physical textbooks and stopping their re-printing, their dissemination through digital platforms and electronic media has to be stopped by the relevant authorities – the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting," the letter said.
Earlier in the day, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed his anguish over the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) coming up with a chapter on judicial corruption in its Class 8 textbook, promising to hold those involved accountable and take action.
Pradhan's remarks came on a day the Supreme Court observed that there appeared to be a "well-orchestrated conspiracy" to defame the judiciary.
It imposed a "complete ban" on the Class 8 NCERT book and ordered that all copies, both physical and digital, be seized.
The NCERT's social science textbook for Class 8 stated that corruption, a massive backlog of cases, and the lack of an adequate number of judges were among the challenges faced by the judicial system.
After stern words by the Supreme Court that it would not allow "anyone on Earth" to tarnish the judiciary's integrity, the NCERT pulled the textbook from its website, with sources saying the government was livid with the controversial references in the book.
The NCERT also apologized for the "inappropriate content" on Wednesday after facing the Supreme Court's ire over the chapter, and said the book would be rewritten in consultation with appropriate authorities.