Exclusion of Odisha’s Paika Rebellion from Class 8 textbook: NCERT clears the air

In response to mounting criticism and strong public reaction, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on Monday issued a clarification concerning the exclusion of Odisha’s historic Paika Rebellion from the newly introduced Social Studies (SST) textbook for Class 8.

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NCERT acknowledged the omission and clarified that the Paika Rebellion or ‘Paika Bidroha,’ a significant regional resistance movement in Odisha, will be featured in the forthcoming Second Volume of the textbook ‘Exploring Society: India and Beyond’, which is currently in its final stages of development. Expectedly, the textbook is to be published by October this year.

The autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Education had come under fire following the release of the first volume, which omitted the ‘1817 Paika Bidroha,’ widely regarded as India’s first armed uprising against British colonial rule.

NCERT decision had triggered political controversy and widespread public discontent across Odisha, with many questioning the BJP-led Central government’s commitment to preserving ‘Odia Asmita’ (Odia Pride).

“This is in reference to a few news items in which it has been mentioned that the recently released Grade 8 Social Science textbook ‘Exploring Society: India and Beyond’ has removed references to the regional resistance movements,” an NCERT press release said.

“It is clarified that the said textbook happens to be the 1st volume of this textbook. The second volume is in the final stages of development and is expected to be released in September-October 2025. Topics relating to the regional resistance movements and armed uprisings such as the Paika Rebellion, Khordha uprising of (erstwhile) Odisha, the Kuka movement, rebellion of the Sikhs in Punjab, etc, will be handled in this volume,” the NCERT communiqué stated.