PM’s advisory council member Sanyal says new NCERT textbooks break from ‘povertarian’ narrative

The newly released Class 7 social science textbooks by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) have shifted away from what Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council and chairperson of NCERT’s Curricular Area Group for Economics, described as "old poverty and colonized narratives."

“The new NCERT textbooks for Class 7 are out… Note that the images are clear and in color, the economics section teaches ideas using modern examples, and history tries to focus on storytelling rather than dates. I am sure these too will be improved with iterations, but we have broken away from old poverty and gratefully colonized narrative,” Sanyal posted on X.

He also criticized the earlier economics content in the 2012 textbooks, saying they were “deliberately” designed to support “povertarian narratives.”

“Images from Partition-time refugee schools, all technology was steam engines, the chapter on markets was about fair price shops and how shopkeepers were ‘hoarding,’ and the chapter on finance was all about women’s self-help groups,” he added.

The new Class 7 textbook titled “Exploring Society: India and Beyond” merges history, geography, social and political life, and economics into a single volume.

The economics portion is covered under Theme E in two chapters, “From Barter to Money” and “Understanding Markets.”

The “From Barter to Money” chapter introduces students to the barter system, the evolution of currency, coinage under the Chalukyas and Cholas, and progress to digital transactions like net banking and the Unified Payments Interface.

The “Understanding Markets" chapter traces the evolution of markets, including historical references such as Hampi Bazaar in Karnataka, and explains how modern markets operate.

In contrast, the previous Class 7 textbook emphasized contemporary agrarian markets, with sections on weavers’ cooperatives and classroom activities like writing letters to ministers about fair wages for garment industry workers.

The new textbook replaces these with scenarios more relatable to urban students, such as bargaining with a vegetable vendor versus shopping at supermarkets.

Sanyal also confirmed revisions have been made to the Class 6 economics content, and efforts are underway to update Class 8 materials.

The earlier Class 6 book had chapters like “Rural Livelihoods” and “Urban Livelihoods,” featuring case studies of debt-ridden farmers, daily wage laborers in Tamil Nadu’s paddy fields, and fishermen’s hardships.

The revised textbook opens with a quote from Kautilya’s “Arthashastra" and includes topics like the dairy cooperative movement and Amul’s role in Gujarat, without focusing on farmer debt.

While new English textbooks became available on May 17, NCERT officials said that the rest of the Class 8 textbooks, including social science, will be released by the end of June, before schools resume in July after the summer holidays.