The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) released its new Social Science textbook, Understanding Society, India and Beyond: Part 1, on June 25, 2026 — the 51st anniversary of the Emergency imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

For the first time, a dedicated section on this chapter appears in the Class IX curriculum under 'Challenges to Democratic Practices in India' within the broader chapter on 'Democracy'.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has vigorously defended the move, arguing that future generations must learn about the 'dark deeds' of the Emergency so that such events are never repeated. While the intent to confront history appears commendable, the timing, framing and pedagogical approach suggest a deeper political purpose that risks undermining the democratic values the curriculum claims to strengthen.The decision to introduce the chapter alongside the government’s official observance of Samvidhan Hatya Diwas transforms education into an instrument of contemporary political messaging. Class IX students, generally fourteen or fifteen years old, are at a formative stage of intellectual development.

They are beginning to acquire the capacity for abstract reasoning but have not yet fully developed the ability to critically evaluate competing historical interpretations, distinguish evidence from political rhetoric or appreciate complex constitutional debates. Presenting one of India’s most contentious political episodes in a manner that appears to foreground partisan culpability over historical inquiry risks substituting education with political socialisation.A constitutional catastrophe worth rememberingNo serious scholar disputes the enormity of the Emergency imposed between 1975 and 1977. On the night of June 25, 1975, following the Allahabad High Court’s verdict invalidating her 1971 election, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi advised President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to proclaim a national Emergency under Article 352 on the ground of “internal disturbance.”

Fundamental rights were suspended, press censorship became pervasive and more than 110,000 political leaders, activists and journalists — including Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani — were detained without trial under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).

Sanjay Gandhi, exercising extraordinary extra-constitutional influence, spearheaded coercive sterilisation campaigns that officially recorded more than 1.07 crore procedures in less than two years, many allegedly linked to coercion and denial of public services. Slum clearance drives, particularly the demolition at Turkman Gate in Delhi, displaced thousands of families under the supervision of officials including Jagmohan.

The 39th and 42nd Constitutional Amendments curtailed judicial oversight and strengthened executive authority, while the Supreme Court’s decision in the ADM Jabalpur case became a lasting symbol of institutional capitulation.The Emergency exposed the vulnerability of India’s constitutional........

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