‘Socialist’, ‘Secular’ terms missing in Preamble in new Telangana textbooks
Hyderabad, Jun 23: The Telangana State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has got mired in a controversy following the publication of the Preamble of the Constitution on the cover page of a school textbook allegedly without the words 'socialist' and 'secular'.
The SCERT, however, maintained that the error occurred due to oversight.
The Telangana State United Teachers' Federation (TSUTF) submitted a representation to the secretary of education department on Thursday complaining that the words 'socialist' and 'secular' were "removed" from the Preamble published on the cover page of the class 10 social studies textbook published by the SCERT.
The two words were included in the Preamble through the 42nd Constitutional amendment, the TSUTF recalled.
However, the Preamble, including the two words, was published in the pages inside class 8 and 10 social studies books, it said.
At a time when there is a debate "across the globe" that secularism was in danger in India, the publication of the old Preamble "the way some people want it" instead of the one that is in force gives rise to several doubts, the Federation claimed.
It said that the error was a major one and that either it happened intentionally or due to oversight.
The Federation urged that the correct Preamble be published and sought tough action against those responsible for wrongly publishing the Preamble, after conducting an inquiry.
Meanwhile, the SCERT said the error was inadvertent.
"This happened by oversight and unintentionally while downloading the image at the time of designing the cover," the SCERT Director said.
However, in the inner pages of other textbooks, the Preamble after amendment was printed.
"The error crept in inadvertently," the Director said.
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West Asia war: Vessel carrying 20,000 tonnes of LPG reaches Gujarat crossing Strait of Hormuz
Kandla (Gujarat) (PTI): A vessel carrying 20,000 metric tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) arrived at Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla in Gujarat after crossing the Strait of Hormuz amid the West Asia crisis, officials said on Sunday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged MV SYMI started its journey from Qatar and docked at the port in Kandla around 11.30 pm on Saturday after crossing the Strait of Hormuz on May 13, they added.
Since early March, 13 India-flagged vessels, comprising 12 LPG tankers and one crude oil tanker, have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway close to the coast of Oman through which roughly one-fifth of the world's energy supplies pass.
It has been severely disrupted by the conflict in West Asia that started on February 28, with the US and Israel launching joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes. It has resulted in one of the worst energy crisis the world has seen in recent decades.
Incidentally, at a special meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECOSOC) on safeguarding energy and supply flows, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Parvathaneni Harish said targeting commercial shipping, endangering civilian crew and impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is "unacceptable".
On May 13, an India-flagged commercial vessel came under attack off the coast of Oman.
Omani authorities rescued all 14 crew members of the vessel sailing from Somalia, but it was not immediately known who carried out the strike.
