NCERT on Thursday released a Class IX social science textbook carrying content on the Emergency, coinciding with the government’s observance of “Samvidhaan Hatya Divas” to highlight the excesses of the 1975-77 period.

The new textbook, Understanding Society: India and Beyond, describes the Emergency as one of the major challenges to democracy in India. Its release had been delayed by over two months.

“One of the major challenges to democracy in India was recorded when an Emergency was imposed in 1975-77,” the book says, linking the period to growing public dissatisfaction, unemployment, inflation, allegations of misgovernance and widespread protests.

NCERT had earlier included content on the Emergency in the Class XII political science textbook, Politics in India since Independence, published in 2007-08. The book also carried references to the ban on the RSS, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the 2002 Gujarat riots.

In 2022, NCERT dropped content on the Gujarat riots, the RSS ban, references to Hindu extremists killing Mahatma Gandhi and controversy surrounding the Emergency, while retaining material on the anti-Sikh riots.

This is the first time content on the Emergency has been introduced at such an early stage. Since social science is compulsory, all Class IX students will study it, unlike the elective political science course in Class XII.

The timing of the release has sparked speculation that NCERT aligned it with the government’s effort to spotlight the Emergency. Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters in Chandigarh that the future generation should understand the dark deeds of the Emergency.