Indian textbooks record Nepal's transition to democracy

New Delhi, July 6: The turbulent history of Nepal and the constituent’s assembly’s decision to dump the 240-year-old monarchy and embrace democracy have now found a place in NCERT textbooks.To help the students understand the political process and constitution, the NCERT has given a brief history on Nepal’s struggle for ... ...in the recently introduced political science textbook of Class VIII.The chapter, ‘The Indian Constitution’, says Nepal was a monarchy till recently and the previous constitution of Nepal, adopted in 1990, reflected that the authority rested with the King.“A people’s movement in Nepal fought for several decades to establish democracy and in 2006 they finally succeeded in putting an end to the powers of the King. Now the people have to write a new constitution to establish Nepal as a democracy,” the book says.The chapter is significant in view of Nepal’s landmark decision announcing the erstwhile Himalayan Kingdom as a republic.“This chapter attempts to explain the concept of constitution.Nepal are best examples to show how a country adopts democratic form of government or polity,” NCERT spokesperson BC Patra told PTI.“Nepal, by moving from a monarchy to a democratic government, needs to change its constitutive rules in order to usher in a new society. This is why, the people of Nepal are in the process of writing a new Constitution for the country,” the book says.The chapter has been introduced as per the guidelines of the National Curriculum Framework, 2005, which speaks about connecting studies to life outside the school, Patra said.

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