New Delhi: NCERT will replace the map of East and South East Asia from Class 12 Political Science textbook, which shows “Aksai Chin” as a disputed area.
A map on page 56 in the NCERT political science textbook, “Contemporary World Politics,” contained a disputed area “Aksai Chin” as a part of India, which belongs to China. When the media reports highlighted the facts, The council took a decision to replace it.
A statement by NCERT claims that the textbook covered major political events and processes in world politics since the beginning of the Cold War era.
“The Chapter 4, ‘Alternative Centres of Power’, focuses on the European Union, ASEAN and China. The map which figures on page 56 is not a map of India, but a map of East and South East Asia. It was prepared by the University of Texas. The source of the map was mentioned at the bottom. The map states that ‘Boundary representation is not necessarily authoritative,” NCERT official stated.
The border between India and China, near Aksai Chin, was marked with dotted lines to show the dispute. Later in this chapter, the topic under the heading ‘India – China Relations’ (on page 61) refers to competing for territorial claims in Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin.
Aksai Chin has been indicated as an integral part of India on the map on page 149. However, the National Council of Educational Research and Training has now decided to replace it.