Another Involvement in Book Piracy- NCERT
The arrow of suspicion under the piracy of textbooks distributed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) presently focuses at its authorities.
Several records, reports, telephonic conversations and messages of NCERT were submitted to the Ministry of Education (MoE) and these pieces of evidence reveal that the board discussed the same for five continuous days. The council started with the inquiry only after the mediation of Secretary of MoE (which was then the HRD ministry). NCERT sources state that the ongoing confiscation of pirated reading material in Meerut and Amroha is only a glimpse of something larger and need autonomous examination on the contribution of gathering's authorities.
On December 20, 2018, vigilance and security officer (VSO) received a tip by an informant that an enormous number of pirated books were put away at one of the print machines in Greater Noida. A similar message was additionally sent to the director of NCERT and the then school training secretary. It is asserted that the authority likewise happened to make a visit to the press for an alternate issue the exceptionally following day. He saw the books and quickly informed the VSO regarding the specific area of the pilfered course readings.
A lot of inquiries were messaged to the chief and secretary of NCERT. Answering in the interest of the NCERT, the VSO didn't give any motivations to the inaction for five days. "The authority didn't hang tight for power reaction in the issue and himself made a visit to the above printers in the first part of the day hours… The owner of the firm stopped a grievance against the official and informed about his unapproved visit. The proprietor didn't permit the authority to review the press," and "When not permitted by the firm proprietor, the authority reached VSO telephonically around 10:15 AM. The VSO disclosed to him that by making such visit without having any endorsement of able position, you have cautioned the firm proprietor and there is the likelihood that unapproved books as guaranteed may have been moved from the premises." (TOI, September 2020)
One of the retired NCERT officials also stated that this piracy of NCERT books around the country wouldn’t have been possible without the planning and plotting of the internal NCERT authorities. All this begins by making a false shortage of the reading material, as a result of which the demand for these pirated books increase since people who need them have no other choice but buy it. Also, not even half of the required material gets printed at the beginning of the academic sessions. The printing proceeds even well past December.
The official also said that Prakash Javadekar, the then HRD minister, raised genuine worry over this issue of piracy in a gathering. At that point under the weight of the MHRD, NCERT needed to begin on-line conveyance of course books through India Post.