Pani, asman, dost among Persian, Arabic-origin words Bengal panel wants to remove
The West Bengal Syllabus Committee is considering changes to school textbooks that could see several Persian- and Arabic-origin words replaced with terms it considers more traditional to Bengali usage.
The proposed changes are being examined for textbooks covering Classes I to X and include commonly used words such as pani (water), rangdhonu (rainbow), kitab (book), imarat (building), asman (sky), fajr (dawn), gosol (bath) and dost (friend).
State sources have described the exercise as an attempt to align textbook language with traditional and standard West Bengal Bengali usage. Critics, however, have described the move as political "purification" and cultural interference.WHAT THE SYLLABUS COMMITTEE IS CONSIDERING
The proposal gained traction after a three-day residential meeting of the textbook committee in August, during which members flagged certain words that they felt had been unnaturally introduced into the curriculum.
The proposed vocabulary changes will be part of a broader, limited syllabus revision for the upcoming academic session. The overall revision will be capped at 10 per cent.
Debasish Chattopadhay, chairman of the Syllabus Committee, told India Today that the panel is contemplating changes to certain words in the Class VIII textbook.
He said a detailed recommendation will be submitted to the West Bengal government within 15 days, after which the government will consider the proposal.
Chattopadhay said the committee wants to examine words that it considers foreign and which, in its view, were not traditionally used in undivided Bengal.
"Whichever words are foreign and not pleasant to hear, which don't feel good to our ears, and whichever words were not traditionally in use in undivided Bengal for ages... Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bankim Chandra, Rabindranath none of them used those words. We will definitely try to change those words," he said.
He specifically referred to the use of pani for water, saying the word was not traditionally used in the manner the committee considers appropriate for Bengali textbooks.
"Specially words of the 'pani', we have never called water 'pani'. So naturally, it is very normal that there is no justification for these to remain," he said.
He added that the committee was preparing its recommendations and would submit them to the government for consideration.SINGUR MOVEMENT, KANYASHREE ALSO PROPOSED FOR REMOVAL
The proposed changes are not limited to individual words.
Chattopadhay said the Singur movement is being removed from the Class VIII syllabus. He also said the Kanyashree project would be removed from the textbooks for Classes VI and VIII.
The proposed changes are still at the recommendation stage. The final decision will be taken by the West Bengal government after the syllabus committee submits its recommendations.EDUCATION MINISTER SAYS HE IS NOT AWARE
West Bengal Education Minister Dipak Barman said he was not aware of the proposed changes when asked about them.
"I am not aware of such changes. Will look into it when it comes to me," Barman said.
The syllabus committee is expected to submit its detailed recommendations to the government within 15 days. The government will then consider the proposed changes as part of the limited syllabus revision for the upcoming academic session.- Ends
Tapas Sengupta is a senior investigative journalist based in Kolkata, also reports actively on socio-political issues, human rights violations, and conflict Β across India. He is a Defence Correspondent and having experience of covering major conflicts across all the borders of India since last 17 years. He is an experienced broadcast journalist
