New Delhi: In an apparent move to de-saffronise history text books, Government today (July 20, 2004) announced these books would be restored with "appropriate modifications" in line with the existing curriculum and minor corrections wherever required from next year's academic session.

Making a statement in Lok Sabha, HRD (Human Resource Development) Minister Arjun Singh said the Executive Committee of the NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) accepted the report of the panel of historians, S Settar, J G Grewal and Barun De, which found that the history books were biased, badly written and full of inaccuracies rendering them unsuitable for continuation.

Because of the advanced stage of the current academic session, it was, unfortunately, not practical to change all the books at this stage, he said, adding it was, however, decided that NCERT text books which were replaced by present text books would be printed in sufficient numbers to enable at least five copies to be sent free to each school taking the CBSE syllabus.

These books would also be available in the market for purchase and these could be used by teachers and students for reference, he said.