The 2024 grade 6 NCERT social studies textbook significantly differs in its interpretation of nationalism from the previous generation of social studies textbooks. The new textbook emphasises an ancient territorial definition of India in comparison with the older textbooks, which went with how the 1952 Constitution of India saw who is an Indian. The new textbook version of nationalism also largely ignores social inequality and the role of justice. This article explores whether it is possible to have a dialogue between the respective discourses in which the 2024 and 2006 textbooks are embedded. One possible starting point for the conversation can be that the 2024 textbook’s definition of India actually differs from that of several of its ideologues like Savarkar, Upadhyaya and Madhav, who seem to be more in line with the previous textbooks’ definition of India. Perhaps it is still possible to discuss which version of nationalism can lead to greater fraternity and justice in India.
ArmstrongJ. (1982). Nations before nationalism. University of North Carolina Press.
2.
AndersonB. (1991). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso.
3.
BarthF. (1969). Introduction. InBarthF.(Ed.), Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of cultural difference (pp. 9–38). Little, Brown and Company.
4.
BeheraM. C., & PramanikR. (2025). Spirituality in tribal India: An exploratory study. InBeheraM. C.(Ed.), The Routledge handbook of tribe and religions in India: Contemporary readings on spirituality, belief and identity (pp. 81–96). Routledge.
5.
ChattopadhyayaB. D. (2018). The concept of Bhāratavarṣa and its historiographical implications. In The concept of Bharatavarsha and other essays (pp. 1–30). SUNY Press.
6.
DunnA. W. (1916). The social studies in secondary education. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education.
7.
EndicottP., MetspaluM., & KivisildT. (2007). Genetic evidence on modern human dispersals in South Asia: Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA perspectives: The world through the eyes of two haploid genomes. In PetragliaM. D. & AllchinB. (Eds), The evolution and history of human populations in South Asia: Inter-disciplinary studies in archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistics and genetics (pp. 229–244). Springer.
8.
EriksenT. H. (2010). Ethnicity and nationalism: Anthropological perspectives. Pluto Press.
9.
FortierJ. (2009). The ethnography of South Asian foragers. Annual Review of Anthropology, 39, 99–114.
10.
FukuyamaF. (1992). The end of history and the last man. The Free Press.
11.
GandhiM. K. (1909/1938). Indian Home Rule or Hind Swaraj. Navajivan Trust.
12.
GellnerE. (1983). Nations and nationalism. Blackwell.
13.
GolwalkarM. S. (1947). We or our nationhood defined (4th ed.). Bharat Prakashan (Original work published 1939).
14.
GolwalkarM. S. (1966). Bunch of thoughts. Vikrama Prakashan.
15.
GuptaD. N.(Ed.). (2010). Bhagat Singh: Select speeches & writings. National Book Trust.
16.
HabibI. (1999). The envisioning of a nation: A defence of the idea of India. Social Scientist, 27(9/10), 18–29.
17.
HessD. (2008). Controversial issues and democratic discourse. In LevstikL. S. & TysonC. A. (Eds), Handbook of research in social studies education (pp. 124–136). Routledge.
18.
HobsbawmE. J. (1992). Nations and nationalism since 1780: Programme, myth, reality (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
19.
IgnatieffM. (1993/2006). Blood and belonging: Journeys into the new nationalism. Penguin.
20.
JayaramN., & SaberwalS. (1996). Introduction. In JayaramN. & SaberwalS. (Eds), Social conflict (pp. 1–28). Oxford University Press.
21.
JhaD. N. (2014). Rethinking Hindu identity. Routledge.
22.
KorostelinaK. V. (2013). History education in the formation of social identity: Toward a culture of peace. Palgrave Macmillan.
23.
KothariD. S. (1966/1970). Education and national development. NCERT.
24.
Lévi-StraussC. (1962/1966). The savage mind. Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
25.
MadhavR. (2021). The Hindutva Paradigm: Integral humanism and the quest for a non-western worldview. Westland.
26.
MajumderP. P. (2008). Genomic inferences on peopling of South Asia. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development, 18(3), 280–284.
27.
McNeillW. H. (1986/2018). Polyethnicity national unity in world history: The Donald G. Creighton lectures 1985. University of Toronto Press.
28.
NarasimhanV. M., PattersonN., MoorjaniP., RohlandN., BernardosR., MallickS., LazaridisI., NakatsukaN., OlaldeI., LipsonM., KimA. M., OlivieriL. M., CoppaA., VidaleM., MalloryJ., MoiseyevV., KitovE., MongeJ., AdamskiN., … BaitanayevB. (2019). The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia. Science, 365(6457). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat7487
29.
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). (2006a). Our pasts—I: Textbook in history for class VI.
30.
NCERT. (2006b). Social and political life—I.
31.
NCERT. (2006c). The earth: Our habitat: Textbook in geography for Class VI.
32.
NCERT. (2024). Exploring society: India and beyond: Social science textbook for grade 6. NCERT.
33.
ParkerW. C. (2014). Social studies in elementary education (14th ed.). Pearson.
34.
RedfieldR. (1956). Peasant society and culture: An anthropological approach to civilization. University of Chicago Press.
35.
ReichD., ThangarajK., PattersonN., PriceA. L., & SinghL. (2009). Reconstructing Indian population history. Nature, 61(24), 489–495.
36.
Sachchidananda. (1970). Tribe-caste continuum: A case study of the Gond in Bihar. Anthropos, 65(5/6), 973–997. https://doi.org/10.2307/40457472
37.
SavarkarV. D. (1969). Hindutva: Who is a Hindu (5th edition). Veer Savarkar Prakashan (Original work published 1923).
38.
SmithA. D. (1998). Nationalism and modernism: A critical survey of recent theories of nations and nationalism. Routledge.
39.
SrinivasM. N. (1966/1969). Social change in modern India. University of Berkeley Press.
40.
TajfelH. (1974). Social identity and intergroup behaviour. Social Science Information, 13(2), 65–93.
41.
ThomasK. (1992). Conflict and negotiation processes in organizations. In DunnetteM. D. & HoughL. M. (Eds), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 651–718). Consulting Psychologists Press.
42.
UpadhyayaD. (1965/2019, September19). Integral humanism—Lectures of Deendayal Upadhyaya—3. https://arisebharat.com/2019/09/19/integral-humanism-lectures-of-deendayal-upadhyaya-3/
