Skip to main content

Caste discrimination not to be included in California school books? US NRIs keep close watch on eve of "final vote"

By A Representative
The California’s State Board of Education is all set to vote on new textbooks, includes 6th/7th grade history textbooks, amidst a major controversy having broken out in the US' NRI community on whether to include caste as a form of slavery in the chapters that teach South Asian civilization.
While the South Asian Histories for All (SAHFA), a multi-faith, inter-caste coalition, has urged the state of California to "approve only those textbooks that tell a neutral and factual history of South Asia", with one of its senior office bearers, Praveen Sinha, insisting, “We wouldn’t censor slavery in our textbooks. So why erase caste?”, American Hindutva Hindu lobby groups have apparently been successful in seeking to erase caste.
According to SAHFA, the effort has been to "hide basic historical facts -- including erasing the history of caste oppression", quoting American Dalit Dolly Arjun as pointing out that "erasing caste impacts California students and parents", pointing out how in India her parents "faced caste-based atrocities.”
SAHFA feels http://www.southasianhistoriesforall.org that the need for insisting on calling caste a form of slavery is particularly important, as "in 2016, the Board agreed with on many key points while approving the official curriculum framework", but "failed to enforce its own guidelines as publishers developed textbooks."
Accorsding to SAHFA, "Now every proposed textbook covering ancient South Asia has major errors, including hiding the history of caste oppression", giving examples of how this is being done.
For instance, the official guidelines of Discovery Education Social Studies Techbook (section 6.2, page 2) said “A person belonged to a particular…[caste]…primarily by birth.” But the textbook publisher talked of “an ideal set of social classes based on…natural abilities”.
The official guidelines of the National Geographic World History Ancient Civilizations, California Student Edition (unit 2, chapter 6, section 1.3, page 149) described the "Dalit people" as: “In addition, by 500 CE or earlier, there existed certain communities outside the jati system, the Dalits.” But the textbook publisher wrote: “At the bottom were slaves, laborers, and artisans…Many centuries later, another group developed that was considered even lower.”
The official guidelines National Geographic World History Ancient Civilizations, California Student Edition (unit 4, section 2.2, page 273) said, “Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak, a social reformer who challenged the authority of the Brahmins and the caste order.” But the textbook publisher did not mention Sikh opposition to caste or Brahmin authority.
The official guidelines for Pearson California History -- Social Science my World Interactive (Lesson 4.1, Page 132) referred to the “Indus Valley Civilization”, the standard name used by scholars and academics, but the textbook publisher wrote a controversial alternate name preferred by many Hindutva theorists: “Indus Saraswati civilization“.
The official guidelines for the California Studies Weekly – Social Studies (week 24) said, “A person belonged to a particular…[caste]…primarily by birth", but the textbook publisher wrote: “Someone’s position in society was based on his or her nature, or attitude”.
The official guidelines for Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt Social Studies World History: Ancient Civilizations, California Edition (grade 6, module 6, page 180) said, “Although ancient India was a patriarchy, women had a right to their personal wealth…but little property rights when compared to men, akin to the other ancient kingdoms and societies”, the textbook publisher wrote:“In ancient India, women had most of the same rights as men”.

Comments

  1. Ummm - no - not true.

    All of the textbooks retain information on caste discrimination. The frameworks were adhered to. The only thing that was included was that there were Hindu movements against caste and that many modern Hindus do not practice caste discrimination. This was important because the previous textbooks made it seem that one could not be a hindu without practicing caste discrimination.

    Caste being determined by birth is noted in all of the text books. the part about natural ability talks about the origin of what would have been the varna system in the vedic era as opposed to the jaati system which was occupation based. Both became conflated / intertwined and ended up becoming the modern day caste system. However, you only took part of the original sentence of the entire passage

    With regards to the comment "In ancient India, women had most of the same rights as men”. You left out the main part of the sentence which was "akin to other ancient societies, men had more rights than women"

    You have to look at the final edits in total. Don't just use ellipses to gloss over things that don't support your argument.



























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

NOTE: While there is no bar on viewpoint, comments containing hateful or abusive language will not be published and will be marked spam. -- Editor

TRENDING

Defeat of martial law: Has the decisive moment for change come in South Korea?

By Steven Lee  Late at night on December 3, soldiers stormed into South Korea’s National Assembly in armored vehicles and combat helicopters. Assembly staff desperately blocked their assault with fire extinguishers and barricades. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol had just declared martial law to “ eliminate ‘anti-state’ forces .”

70,000 migrants, sold on Canadian dream, face uncertain future: Canada reinvents the xenophobic wheel

By Saurav Sarkar*  Bikram Singh is running out of time on his post-study work visa in Canada. Singh is one of about 70,000 migrants who were sold on the Canadian dream of eventually making the country their home but now face an uncertain future with their work permits set to expire by December 2024. They came from places like India, China, and the Philippines, and sold their land and belongings in their home countries, took out loans, or made other enormous commitments to get themselves to Canada.

EVMs: Govt must prove beyond reasonable doubt it's upholding mandate for free, fair polls

By Jerald D’souza  With the growth of India’s population, concerns about electoral fraud associated with ballot papers, also began to escalate. In 1989, the People’s Representation Act was amended to enable EVMs to prevent electoral fraud. In 1998, EVMs made their debut during legislative assembly elections and for the first time for general elections in 2004. However, criticisms against the EVMs and questions about their integrity have been raised by political parties, civil society and the general population. On 2 February 2024, there was a noteworthy demonstration of dissent where numerous individuals, including Ambedkarite advocates, legal professionals, and other members of civil society  convened at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar demanding the prohibition of EVMs. In 2024, the Supreme court had slapped down a petition to return to paper ballots on the basis that machines give “absolutely accurate results” unless human bias maligns them. The court stated that it was open to testi...

This Indian British Marxist blamed USSR's collapse in 1991 on Khrushchev's 'revisionism'

By Harsh Thakor*  Harpal Singh Brar, British Indian Marxist scholar and communist leader, has passed away in Chandigarh. He was 85. He was a lifelong supporter of socialism, Marxism, and the working class. He will be remembered among British Communists.

A groundbreaking non-violent approach: Maharishi’s invincible defense technology

By MajGen (R) Kulwant Singh, Col (R) SP Bakshi, Col (R) Jitendra Jung Karki, LtCol (R) Gunter Chassé & Dr David Leffler*  In today’s turbulent world, achieving lasting peace and ensuring national security are more urgent than ever. Traditional defense methods focus on advanced weapons, military strategies, and tactics, but a groundbreaking approach offers a new non-violent and holistic solution: Maharishi’s Invincible Defense Technology (IDT). 

Chalapathi's death in encounter suggests Maoists' inability to establish broader mass support

By Harsh Thakor* The Maoist movement experienced a significant loss during the Ramagudem encounter on January 21, with the death of Chalapathi (Pratap), a Central Committee member of the CPI (Maoist). His death, along with 15 others, marks a major setback for the movement. Reports suggest that his location was revealed to security forces through a selfie with his wife.

Why do we mostly resist and refrain from communicating on sanitation topic?

By Nikhil Kumar, Mansee Bal Bhargava* According to UN SDG Progress report (2022), at the present moment no targets for SDG 6 are expected to be met by 2030. In 2022, 2.2 billion people had no access to safe drinking water and 3.5 million lacked safe sanitation. Approximately 50% of the world’s population was reported to have been under resourced in enough water for part of the year and a quarter of that population was living under “extremely high” water stress. Add to it, droughts have affected over 1.4 billion people between 2002 and 2021.

CCG raises concerns over Indian State of Forest Report 2023 in open letter to environment minister

By A Representative  The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), a collective of former civil servants, has expressed serious concerns over the Indian State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023 in an open letter to the Union Minister for Environment, Forests & Climate Change. The group has criticized the report's delayed release, flawed methodology, and misleading claims regarding the state of India's forests.

Govt of India asked to work for release of 217 Indian fishermen detained in Pakistan since 2021

By A Representative  Members of the fishing communities from Gujarat and Diu, Union Territory, held a press conference in Ahmedabad, urging the Union Government to take proactive measures to secure the release of Indian fishermen currently detained in Pakistan. Presently, 217 Indian fishermen, mostly from Gujarat and Diu, are held in Pakistan’s Malir Jail. Of these, 53 have been incarcerated since 2021 and 130 since 2022.

Operation Kagar represents Indian state's intensified attempt to extinguish Maoism: Resistance continues

By Harsh Thakor Operation Kagar represents the Indian state's intensified attempt to extinguish Maoism, which claims to embody the struggles and aspirations of Adivasis. Criminalized by the state, the Maoists have been portrayed as a threat, with Operation Kagar deploying strategies that jeopardize their activities. This operation weaves together economic, cultural, and political motives, allegedly with drone attacks on Adivasi homes.