The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) introduced a new Class 8 Social Science book on Monday, which includes a section explaining the judiciary’s role in addressing issues such as corruption and pending cases. This is a significant update as these topics were not directly covered in the previous edition.
The updated chapter, “The Role of the Judiciary in Our Society," goes beyond the court structure to discuss challenges like corruption and case backlog. It details judges’ code of conduct and internal accountability mechanisms, and mentions the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) for complaint redressal.
It highlights the constitutional provision for the impeachment of judges in serious cases following proper inquiry. The book recognises public concerns about how corruption affects access to justice, particularly for the poor and disadvantaged.
The topic further quotes former Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, who noted that corruption undermines public trust and called for transparency and accountability. It also provides approximate statistics on pending cases in the country’s courts: about 81,000 in the Supreme Court of India, around 6,240,000 in the High Courts, and approximately 47,000,000 in district and subordinate courts. These figures are intended to help students understand the pressures on the justice system.
The previous book detailed the judiciary’s role, the concept of an independent judiciary, court structure, and public access, but did not mention corruption, reported the Indian Express. It did state that court cases often take years to resolve and explained the principle “Justice delayed is justice denied."
The book details that the 2018 electoral bond scheme permitted anonymous donations to political parties. The Supreme Court later ruled this unconstitutional, emphasising voters’ right to know the sources of party funding. It also discusses the Information Technology Act, 2009, which included a provision penalising social media posts. This was contested by a law student in 2015, resulting in the Supreme Court declaring it unconstitutional and ordering its repeal due to freedom of expression violations.
New NCERT textbooks are being developed in accordance with the New Education Policy 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF). The previous textbooks were based on the 2005 curriculum, which was revised and reduced after the pandemic.
Source: News18