The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away (Judicial Policymaking)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Education ◽  
Human Resource Development ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Party Government ◽  
Curricular Framework ◽  
School History ◽  
Personality And Politics

This chapter describes the personality and politics of Murli Manohar Joshi who was the Minister of Human Resource Development (MHRD) during the NDA Government (1998–2004), first truly non-Congress Party Government at the Centre with an idea of India which was starkly at variance with that of Nehru. It also describes the achievements of Joshi such as enacting the Constitutional Amendment to make Right to Elementary Education as Fundamental Right, and launch of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) as well as the controversies which enveloped the NCERT School History textbooks, the National Curricular Framework (NCF), 2000. It briefly outlines the competing schools of pedagogy, critiques NCF, 2000, and its proposal to incorporate education about religions in school curriculum. It also describes the growth of private universities as a result of the liberalization of regulations for deemed universities as well as permissive State Laws, the issue of UGC regulations on private university, and the landmark Supreme Court judgment in Yash Pal case which spawned a powerful New UGC that was a species different from that created by the UGC Act, 1956.

The Mikado and the Shogun (P.V. Narasimha Rao and Arjun Singh)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political History ◽  
Indian Education ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
School History ◽  
Economic Ideology ◽  
Personality And Politics ◽  
History Books

This chapter describes the personality and politics of Arjun Singh who was Minister of MHRD for about nine years in two spells (1991–95 and 2004–9), and left a deep imprint on Indian education policies. It also describes the developments during 1991–6, a watershed in Indian economic and political history which among others marked the end of Nehruvian era and the unquestioned sway of hegemony of the liberal-left ideas about nationalism, identity, and secularism which were regnant from Independence. It outlines how Arjun Singh built his political career around a fiery commitment to secularism, leftist economic ideology, and social justice, and how that commitment served him well in his battles with political rivals including the Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. It also outlines Arjun Singh’s strategic use of MHRD to cultivate ‘progressive’ intellectuals, and further his political agenda. It elaborates the conceptual underpinnings of the perennial controversy about school history books, and offers a blow by blow account of the controversy during period 1967–1996 which includes the reign of Indira Gandhi, Janata Party, and P.V. Narasimha Rao.

Narrative Strategies Regarding Japanese Ethnic Origins and Cultural Identities in Japanese Middle-School History Textbooks

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryôta Nishino
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Narrative Strategies ◽  
Long Period ◽  
School History ◽  
Middle School History ◽  
Japanese Identity ◽  
Ethnic Origins

This article examines how middle school history textbooks published between 1951 and 1995 explain the origins of the Japanese as an ethnic group (minzoku). The analysis shows that despite the relatively long period from which the sample of textbooks was taken, these texts continue to emphasize two categories of Japanese identity: a biologically heterogeneous people through prehistoric immigration and a unified language. Building on the latter theme, the textbooks continued to treat the innovation of the kana as a quintessential development underlying the Japanese cultural achievement. The analysis reveals that the narrative tone shifted from being emotive in the early 1950s texts to somewhat muted in later decades.

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