The Prime Minister has justified the deletion of ten passages from NCERT history textbooks (to 1oe followedsoon by their replacement and then the abolition of history as a separate subject till Class X) on the groundthat these books are "one-sided". How does he know? And how does being Prime Minister give him theauthority to issue such a fatwa? It is nobody's contention that the NCERT books are perfect, but any revisionmust be based on at least a minimum level of competence in the subject. It is significant that the names ofthose writing the new textbooks are being kept strictly secret.