Just five days after the Karnataka government passed an order allowing 18 changes in Kannada and Social Science textbooks for classes 6 to 10, it has removed Raghuveer as the managing director of the Karnataka Textbook Society (KTBS). According to a notification issued by the state government on June 22, Shubha Kalyan an IAS officer, has been given the additional charge as KTBS MD. This is the first time when an Indian Administrative Service officer has been made the KTBS chief. Usually, a Karnataka Education Service official, who is recruited through the Karnataka Public Service Commission, helms KTBS. In fact, Kalyan now holds three posts including that of the Director, Director, eGovernance, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, with a concurrent charge as Director, Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN), Department of School Education and Literacy (Midday Meals), and an additional charge as KTBS MD. Meanwhile, Raghuveer who was earlier director, PM POSHAN, and KTBS MD, is awaiting posting. Although the reason for the removal of Raghuveer is unclear, sources in the government said an official of ‘high calibre’ was required to deal with textbook revisions, especially at a time when the issue is one of the top priorities for the ruling Congress government. Restoring the changes made by the BJP government-appointed Rohith Chakrathirtha textbook revision committee was one of the major poll promises of the Congress. “The government needed a person of high calibre who understood the dynamics of the textbook revision process- right from the content to distribution of textbooks. Which is why an IAS officer was given an additional charge. However, the decision was made at the highest level of the administration, with reasons best known to them,” said a government official. Government sources also said the teacher recruitment scam that took place during Siddaramiah’s tenure as chief minister between 2012-13 and 2014-15 has jolted the administration of the school education department. Madegowda, the former KTBS MD, was arrested by Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in connection with the irregularities in the teachers’ recruitment when he held an administrative charge under the Department of Public Instruction. Around 68 employees, including teachers, directors, and retired assistant directors, of the school education department have been arrested by CID in connection with the scam. The Congress government has made Prof Rajappa Dalawai, Ravi Kumar, Prof TR Chandrashekar, Dr Ashwathnarayan, and Rajesh the members of the textbook revision committee. According to the list of revisions released by KTBS, the government has dropped a lesson on RSS founder K B Hedgewar and has reintroduced Letters from a Father to His Daughter written by India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and translated by Siddanahalli Krishna Sharma. In addition, the government has also dropped the works of other right-wing ideologues such as Chakaravarthy Sulibele and Shatavadhani Ganesh in the Class 10 Kannada language textbook. While Sulibele’s work Heroes of Mother India finds no replacement, Ganesh’s work has been replaced with that of writer Sara Aboobacker, who authored War.
