NCERT Omits Tipu Sultan, Anglo–Mysore Wars From Class 8 Social Science Textbook
Michel Danino, chair of the textbook development committee, said the decision was taken as including every war would revert to a 'cramming' style filled with dates and battles
NCERT's newly released Class 8 Social Science textbook, in the news for highlighting the 'brutality" of Mughals, also excludes Tipu Sultan, Haider Ali, and the four Anglo–Mysore Wars from its chapter on colonial rule.
While the book, Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), traces early European arrival—from Vasco da Gama to the Battle of Plassey—and highlights economic exploitation, the 1857 Rebellion, and cultural looting, the Mysore resistance is notably absent.
Instead, NCERT includes uprisings such as the Sannyasi–Fakir rebellion, Kol and Santhal insurrections, and the Anglo–Maratha Wars. It even asserts that 'the British took India from the Marathas more than from the Mughals or any other power".
Explaining the change, Michel Danino, chair of the textbook development committee, emphasised that the book serves as an overview and not a comprehensive history. He noted that including every war would revert to a 'cramming" style filled with dates and battles—and confirmed that Tipu Sultan and the Anglo–Mysore Wars won't likely feature in Part 2 either, India Today reported.
The revised edition also brings fresh perspectives: it spotlights the economic 'drain" on India, estimating a loss of $45 trillion (modern value) from 1765 to 1938, debunks the notion that railways and telegraphs were British benevolence—revealing they were funded by Indian taxes—and highlights widespread cultural theft from colonial powers.
However, critics argue the exclusions downplay significant chapters of India's resistance. Tipu Sultan, known as the 'Tiger of Mysore" who led four major wars between 1767 and 1799 with innovations like iron cased rockets, is a key figure lost in this narrative, the Indian Express reported.
The textbook had also raised eyebrows for depicting Babur as a 'brutal and ruthless conqueror who slaughtered entire populations of cities", Akbar's reign as a 'blend of brutality and tolerance", and Aurangzeb as one who demolished temples and gurdwaras.
NCERT explained the inclusion of these descriptions in a 'Note on Some Darker Periods in History", with one chapter including a cautionary statement that 'no one should be held responsible today for events of the past".
NCERT has been bringing out new school textbooks in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023.
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First Published:
July 17, 2025, 16:07 IST
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