The episode of land acquisition at Singur will be part of the West Bengal Board text books from the current academic session, State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said in the Assembly on Monday.
Asked by a Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator in the house whether the Singur movement will be included in the curriculum at the college level, the Minister said there are no such plans.
“The class VIII history books printed by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education from this year will contain Singur land movement,” Mr. Chatterjee told journalists later.
He said he has spoken to the authorities of Board to ensure that new books printed with references to Singur are distributed across the State. The Class VIII history book is titled Ateet O Oitijyho (Past and Heritage).
According to sources in the Board, the issue will be dealt in a separate chapter titled ‘Jal Jamin Jangal Jivika’ (Water, Land Forest & Livelihood).
The chapter will talk about land movements in India with references to the Tebhaga movement — a movement led by sharecroppers and guided by by members of undivided Communist party in 1946-47 — will be included in the chapter. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other Trinamool Congress leaders are likely to feature in the section dealing with the Singur agitation.
After the Supreme Court order in August 2016 to return land to farmers at the disputed small car site at Singur, the TMC government decided to include the episode in school textbooks.
Meanwhile, the legislators of the Left Front and Congress walked out from the Assembly demanding a discussion on “assault on women MLAs” last week.
