New Delhi: The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), it was reported recently, has decided to drop three chapters from its Class 9 history textbook. While the purported reason for this drop is to lessen the burden on students, the cuts from social science curriculum are much larger than the reductions in math and science.As Tanika Sarkar wrote in The Wire, it is worth digging into what exactly the government body does not want students to be reading. All three chapters that have been cut deal with pervasive inequalities of caste and class, and how they may effect people in everyday ways that students can relate to – from the clothes they wear to the sports they play.In her words, “The chapters have written about many things. Among them, they also made known the crushing power of caste and class that even seeps into who can play what games, rules about who can wear what and why, and how immiserised peasants and workers have managed to imprint their protests on the political horizon. They make the past immediate to students.”What exactly did the chapters say? Below, you can find the full text of all three deleted chapters.Chapter 6, ‘Peasants and Farmers’This chapter detailed the impact of colonialism and capitalism on rural communities and peasants in three countries –small cottagers in England, wheat farmers of the US and opium producers of Bengal.Read the full chapter here:Peasants and Farmers by The Wire on ScribdChapter 7, ‘History and Sport: The Story of CricketThis chapter traces the history and Victorian origins of cricket, along with its connection to the politics of caste, region and community and the subsequent adoption of the sport by the British colonies.Read the full chapter here:History and Sport: The Story of Cricket by The Wire on ScribdChapter 8, ‘Clothing: A Social History’This chapter detailed the influence of social movements on clothing. Under a section on ‘Caste Conflict and Dress Change’, the “Upper Cloth Revolt” from south India was discussed, during which ‘lower’ caste Nadar women were attacked by Nairs in Travancore for defying the dictum of not covering their upper bodies before the dominant castes. The chapter states that “over subsequent decades, a violent conflict over dress codes ensued”.Read the chapter here:Clothing: A Social History by The Wire on Scribd