Supreme Court on Thursday… Ordered immediate seizure of physical copies And digital versions of the controversial Class 8 social science textbook, which contained a section on “corruption in the judiciary”, were removed.
What happened?
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) released the Class 8 Social Science Part 1 textbook and Part 2 in July 2025, which included a section on “Judicial Corruption”, on Monday (February 23, 2026). Both the books were for the academic session 2025-26, but the first part was released in July 2025, three months after the start of the 2025-26 academic session. The now withdrawn second part was released just a month before the completion of the 2025-26 season.
On January 24 (Tuesday), Part 2 was withdrawn from sale at the NCERT Bookstore counter, a few hours after 32 copies were sold. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the matter on February 25 (Wednesday) morning and by night the NCERT in a statement apologized for the “inappropriate content” in the chapter titled “Role of the Judiciary in our Society” and said it would be rewritten in consultation with the appropriate authorities.
On February 26 (Thursday), the Supreme Court ordered a complete ban on the book and directed the central government to take action to stop the spread of the book in digital and physical form. The government informed the court that 32 copies had been sold and “they are being taken back.” The top court also issued show cause notices to the director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the secretary of the school education department and asked why criminal contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.
The Education Ministry wrote to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) to take immediate action in compliance with the apex court order and submit an action taken report by February 27, 2026 (Friday), so that a compliance affidavit can be placed on record before the court.
The court directed that action should be taken against those involved in writing the book. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has promised action.
How are NCERT books developed?
Although Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehra assured the court that action would be taken and the individuals who drafted the chapters “will never be associated with any activity of this ministry in future”, and Pradhan said the government would investigate, fix accountability and take action against those involved in drafting the disputed material, people familiar with the development process said that the preparation of the NCERT textbook follows a collective, multi-tier process in which “the preparation of individual chapters No author is responsible for it.”
For each subject, a Curriculum Area Group (CAG) is formed, which constitutes a textbook development team to draft the chapters. Initial drafts may be written by contributors (academics) or invited subject experts and then reviewed at multiple levels – by the development team, external experts, teachers, full CAG, NCERT faculty and finally by the National Curriculum and Teaching-Teaching Materials Committee (NSTC).
The controversial chapter mentioning corruption in the judiciary in the Class 8 NCERT Social Science Part 2 textbook was written by a committee of members, including a lawyer, but was not reviewed by anyone from the legal fraternity, officials aware of the matter told HT on Thursday.
People familiar with the development said, “These contents included in the new book are in line with the new pedagogy, as mandated by NEP 2020, which asks students to investigate, explore and answer complex questions, real-world challenges and problems.”
Is corruption mentioned only in the judiciary?
No, the officials quoted above also pointed out that the previous Class 8 Social Sciences textbook – which was in use till 2024 – did not mention corruption at all.
Corruption appears in the new textbooks for both Class 7 and Class 8 – both having two parts. HT has seen copies of the textbooks. These textbooks mention corruption in “public offices”, the legislature, and during the election process – but not in the judiciary. They discuss corruption in institutions, noting that the Vigilance Commission can be approached in cases of wrongdoing. Textbooks explain that elected members can be removed if found involved in “corruption” and identify broader democratic challenges such as “wealth inequality”, “erosion of the independence of the judiciary” and manipulation of information. They ask students why despite strong systems, “we still hear about cases of bribery and corruption in public offices.”
Class 8 Social Science Part 1, released in July 2025, also highlights political corruption, including money power in elections and candidates with criminal records.
Is this the first time that an NCERT book has reached the court?
No, but the current judicial scrutiny of NCERT textbooks by the apex court is unprecedented.
The most significant example of judicial intervention related to NCERT textbooks was in 2002–03, when curriculum changes introduced under the NDA government were challenged before the Supreme Court of India. In Aruna Roy v. Union of India (2002), the petitioners alleged that the new NCERT curriculum promoted “saffronization” and violated secular principles. However, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2000 and allowed the use of the revised textbooks.
An NCERT official said that an NCERT book has never been “banned” before, although several books have been withdrawn or several sections have been removed following various controversies.
In 1978, the Janata Party government removed RS Sharma’s Ancient India from the CBSE curriculum, objecting that the book’s Marxist interpretation of history and references such as beef eating in ancient India hurt religious sentiments and were “anti-national”. In 2002–03, under the NDA government, newly introduced history textbooks were accused of “saffronisation” for promoting a Hindu nationalist perspective and downplaying medieval Muslim rulers. In 2004, the incoming UPA government reversed these changes by scrapping the books, appointing review committees of historians and developing new texts under the National Curriculum Framework 2005.
In 2012, a cartoon at work in the Class 11 political science textbook Indian Constitution, depicting BR Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru, sparked protests, following which NCERT advisors Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar resigned and several cartoons were removed from the book.
Between 2022 and 2024, “rationalization” of NCERT books will result in removal of chapters on the Mughal Empire, references to the 2002 Gujarat riots and 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Darwin’s theory of evolution and sections related to social movements and environmental issues.
Academia vs Judiciary
While both the bar and bench of the legal fraternity criticized NCERT’s new book, with Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant saying “it appears to be a deep, well-planned conspiracy to defame the judiciary,” a section of academics denied the allegation.
Former NCERT director JS Rajput said that the controversy has damaged the image of the council. “The new textbooks mention corruption in the executive and legislature, and students should learn about such issues to become conscious citizens. Many in the legal fraternity may not have read the books completely. Given time, NCERT could have shown in the court that the judiciary is not being singled out,” he told HT.
He told ANI that NCERT revises its books every year as per the suggestions received. “We are all human, and to make mistakes is human. Even the Supreme Court makes mistakes. When a person is acquitted after 15 years and is told that they are innocent, imagine what that person would feel. But no one is taken to task for a wrong decision. So why should this happen only with NCERT? What was the reason for such harshness?” He further said that he was pained to hear the things that were said in the court, including the words used by the Supreme Court – conspiracy, condemnable – “they were not needed at all.”
“These materials were included in the book in line with the new pedagogy, as mandated by NEP 2020, which asks students to investigate, explore and answer complex questions, real-world challenges and problems,” said a person familiar with the development process of the new NCERT book.
