India, June 26 -- A new National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Class 9 Social Science textbook released on Thursday introduces a discussion on the Emergency imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi while omitting the Preamble and references to "secular" and "secularism" that featured prominently in the previous Class 9 textbook, triggering a political row.

The revised textbook, released under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023, discusses the Constitution through its making, democratic institutions and fundamental rights but does not reproduce the Preamble or explain its terminology. It also introduces the Emergency for the first time...