Overview

• NCERT’s newly released Class VIII social science textbook under the NEP 2020 curriculum omits the Paika Rebellion, which earlier editions had hailed as the first anti-British uprising in 1817.
• Former chief minister Naveen Patnaik labeled the exclusion a “huge dishonour” to Odisha’s heritage and urged CM Mohan Charan Majhi and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to restore the revolt’s coverage.
• The updated curriculum substitutes the Paika uprising with sections on four other early resistance movements: the Sannyasi-Fakir, Kol, Santhal and Indigo revolts.
• NCERT defended its evidence-based approach and said the released volume is only one of two, with a second due in September–October 2025 to cover the Paika revolt and other regional uprisings.
• Critics say the debate underscores wider conflicts over who shapes educational narratives and how colonial resistance is portrayed under the new National Education Policy.