Ranchi, Nov. 17: The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) today decided to prescribe history books published by private agencies for Classes IX and X so that the controversy over ?new? and ?old? history books of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) comes to an end.

The JAC recommended Bharat Evam Adhunik Vishwa: Samajik Vigyan Ki Pathyapustak and Bharat Ki Prakritik Evam Sanskritik Virasat Ki Pathyapustak for Classes IX and X, respectively.

JAC chairman Shaligram Yadav said the council would forward the decision to the state human resource development department for the approval. ?Once the government approval is sought, the students will have no problem in getting history books, as they are available in the market,? he said.

He added that the prescribed books are an alternative arrangement. ?The arrangement will continue till we have State Council of Educational Research and Training. Once the state council is functional, we would start publishing our own set of all the books,? he said. Both the books have been published by Delhi-based Arya Book Depot.

The controversy over history books came up between the state government and the UPA-government at the Centre after the NCERT authorities refused to provide the state government with the CDs of the old history books published during Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime.

The NCERT, on the other hand, insisted on continuing with the new set of history books, which according to the state government, ?contained chapters with offensive remarks about the Hindu history and culture?.

Asked how the council chose to prescribe these books, Yadav said: ?A JAC committee found that the books confirmed to our present requirement.?