The Union Minister of State for Education, Jayant Chaudhary, shared in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today that over 4.7 lakh pirated copies of NCERT textbooks have been seized from across the country since 2024.
“Instances of piracy of NCERT textbooks have been received from different parts of the country. During the years 2024 and 2025, approximately 4.71 lakh pirated copies of NCERT textbooks have been seized in various operations across different states. Piracy is driven primarily by commercial motives of unscrupulous elements,” Chaudhary said.
“The main objective of NCERT is to provide quality textbooks at a very affordable price to the last student across the country, on a no-profit and no-loss basis,” he added.
The Minister of State (MoS) reported that over the past year, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has conducted raids on a record 29 locations associated with the production and sale of pirated textbooks. These operations targeted manufacturers of illegal NCERT watermarked paper as well. As a result, the NCERT seized stock and equipment valued at over Rs 20 crore.
“NCERT has also taken several proactive measures to hit at the very root of the piracy business, including a 20 per cent price reduction of NCERT textbooks, timely printing of NCERT textbooks, improved quality of paper and printing (using modern machines), and promotion of online sale of textbooks through e-commerce platforms.
“NCERT has also conducted a pilot trial of a technology-based anti-piracy solution on one million copies of a grade 6 textbook. This tech-based solution has been developed and patented by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur,” he said.
Meanwhile, the new NCERT Class 8 Social Science textbook skips the mention of Tipu Sultan, Haidar Ali or the Anglo-Mysore wars of 1700s in its chapter on India’s colonial era, which has been described as time when “one of the richest lands of the world had become one of the poorest”.
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Part 1 of the textbook — ‘Exploring Society: Indian and Beyond’ — was released this week for use in the ongoing academic session. A second part is expected this year.
The chapter on the colonial era covers the period from the late 1400s and the arrival of Vasco da Gama up to the late 1800s, including the ‘Great Indian Rebellion of 1857’. It traces the shift of the British from being traders to rulers, refers to the Battle of Plassey — a decisive victory for the East India Company against Nawab of Bengal in 1757 — and the “drain of India’s wealth” during this period.
(with PTI inputs)
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