Last week, after the Supreme Court imposed a “complete blanket ban” on the NCERT class 8 social science textbook over a section on “corruption in the judiciary”, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the Centre is taking it “seriously” and that it would be “inquired into”. He said action would be taken against those who were involved in preparing the chapter. The NCERT has a set of groups and committees that prepare and oversee the new textbooks that are being developed in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) 2023.  In its order on the textbook last week, the Supreme Court had directed D P Saklani, Director of the NCERT, to submit a comprehensive list and details pertaining to one of these committees — the National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) — and the names and credentials of the textbook development team responsible for drafting the chapter on the judiciary. So what are these groups and committees, and what is the process behind drafting …