Bhubaneswar: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on Monday issued a clarification amid backlash over omission of 1817 Paika Rebellion in Odisha in the revised Class 8 Social Science textbook, ‘Exploring Society: Indian and Beyond’, for the 2025-26 academic year.
The NCERT explained that the regional resistance movement will be included in the second volume of the textbook, which is expected to be released by September or October. “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 Sept-Oct 2025. Topics relating to the regional resistance movements/armed uprisings such as the Paika rebellion/Khurda uprising of Odisha, the Kuka movement/rebellion of the Sikhs in Punjab etc, will be handled in this volume,” the official release said.
The Paika Rebellion, also known as the Paika Bidroha or Paik Rebellion, was an early armed rebellion against the East India Company, which took place in Odisha in 1817 under the leadership of Bakshi Jagabandhu.
The recent curriculum updates by NCERT, aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023, focus on streamlining content, easing academic pressure, and adopting new teaching methods. Though the book includes sections on early resistance movements like the Sannyasi-Fakir rebellion, Kol uprising, Santhal Rebellion, and Indigo revolt, omission of the Paika Rebellion sparked concerns, especially in Odisha, about the selection criteria for historical events.
This also sparked a political controversy with several voices questioning the BJP-led central government’s stance on preserving ‘Odia Asmita’.
