The Rajasthan Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara has said that the Congress government in the state has removed all references about demonetisation from school textbooks. The textbooks have been revised and will be published for the current academic session.
Dotasara said, “Demonetisation was a most unsuccessful experiment. The three objectives the Prime Minister had mentioned for demonetisation — end of terrorism, corruption and bringing back black money — couldn’t be achieved and the public was forced to stand in line. It also put a burden of more than Rs 10,000 crore on the country.”
The previous government of the BJP led by Vasundhara Raje had added a portion on demonetisation in the political science textbook of Class 12 in 2017, terming the decision of the central government decision to demonetise notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 as a historic move to remove black money.
A picture depicting a woman committing johar has also been removed from the Class 8 textbook. Dotasara said, “It was felt that there was no need for the picture in an English textbook. Moreover, we felt that it wasn’t appropriate that today’s women read textbooks, which carry pictures of women committing self-immolation. What are we trying to teach by that?”
The Ministers statement comes after the Congress government in Rajasthan had decided to change the class 10 school textbooks in the state, reversing the previous BJP Government’s decision to include the contribution of freedom fighters like Veer Savarkar in the school curriculum. The textbook would now depict Savarkar as a traitor who begged for clemency from the British government.