GUWAHATI, Oct 4 - The Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research (also known as Balbharati) has assured of making the necessary correction in the Class X Environmental Science textbook where Padmashree award winning conservationist Jadav Payeng has been referred to as a person belonging to a �nomadic� tribe of Assam.
The Bureau, in appreciation of the efforts of Payeng, has dedicated a chapter to the conservationist from Assam in the Class X curriculum this year, an inclusion which was much-appreciated by people across the country, especially those working relentlessly for forest conservation.
However, while do so, the Bureau refers to Payeng as a person from a nomadic tribe of Assam, which raised quite a few eyebrows. Payeng belongs to the Mising community, which is an indigenous tribe of Assam and not nomadic as has been mentioned in the textbook of Maharashtra Bureau.
When contacted by The Assam Tribune, Chandrashekhar Murumkar, chairperson of the expert committee for science textbooks of Maharashtra Bureau, said, �Since you have brought to our notice the mistake, we would soon act on it and do the needful at the earliest.�
Murumkar said although the first edition of the book has already been published, the committee would first make the correction in the website and then effect the changes in print from next year.
�The idea behind including a chapter on Payeng was to make students realise the contributions of such personalities. We plan to include many such personalities from across the country in our curriculum,� Murumkar said.
�As we collect information from various sources, mistakes do crop up sometimes. But we are open to correction as an when any such mistake is brought to our notice,� Murumkar said.
A Mumbai-based journalist, requesting anonymity, told this reporter that mistakes in the school textbooks do not surprise them anymore. �Like previous years, this year too, a good number of spelling mistakes have surfaced,� he said.
