India, July 17 -- The National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) on Wednesday detailed its rationale behind modifying some content in its Class 8 social science textbook and said that the facts stated were "based on well-known primary and secondary academic sources".

Part 1 of the Class 8 textbook in question, titled 'Exploring Society: Indian and Beyond', introduces students to the Delhi Sultanate, Mughals, Marathas and more. The book emphasises "many instances of religious intolerance" during the Mughal era.

"This textbook attempts to provide an idea about the geography, history (medieval & modern), economic life and governance of the country, from a multi-disciplinary perspective in an integrated way," the NCERT sta...