State bungles national anthem

Taking serious note of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Mulund resident Dakshata Shet, the Bombay High Court yesterday issued a notice to the state government for printing ‘Sindhu' instead of ‘Sindh' in the Geography textbook for Class X (Marathi medium).

A similar error was also spotted in Class XII textbooks for Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics.

As per the PIL, the Supreme Court and High Court have directed that the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana , cannot be modified even though the country has undergone geographical changes.

The division bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Suresh Gupte observed that the state appeared clueless about what the national anthem's words actually were, while directing the principal secretary of the home department to file an affidavit in the matter. The PIL seeks destruction of the textbooks and registration of an offence.