Class 4 NCERT Maths Book Errs Fact About Indian Rhino, Ignites Backlash

A Class 4 NCERT mathematics textbook has sparked controversy due to an error. The box incorrectly depicts the Indian Rhino with two horns, when in reality it has one horn.

A Class 4 NCERT mathematics textbook has sparked controversy due to an error. The box incorrectly depicts the Indian Rhino with two horns, when in reality it has one horn.

While NCERT books remains in limelight due to changes in the syllabus, often made in history texbooks, a class 4 mathematics textbook has led to an uproar. 

The issue surfaced after a user on X brought the attention to the reference made to the Indian Rhino in the NCERT Class 4 Maths textbook. Udoy Bhaskar Borah said that the book wrongly depicted the Indian rhino with two horns, pointing to the fact that the Indian rhinos, mostly found in Assam, had one horn. The error was made in a blue coloured "Did you know?" fact box of the textbook. 

"In the recently published NCERT Class 4 maths textbook, an Indian rhino is shown to have two horns (Pg 45). Such mistakes are not acceptable in an NCERT textbook," said Udoy Bhaskar Borah on X (previously Twitter). 

This input on Indian Rhinoceros is featured in the chapter "1000s Around Us" in the mathematics textbook. This chapter also included facts about Thousand Pillars Temple in Karnataka, which. was constructed in the 14th century. The referring of these facts in a mathematics textbook is under the attempt of NCERT to become cross-disciplinary, which is appreciated. However errors like these aren't acceptable.

An Assam based conversationist Bibhav Kumar Talukdar, who is the secretary general and CEO of Aaranyak and a renowned rhino conservation biologist working on three species of Asian Rhinos, told India Today Digital: "That an Indian rhino has been depicted with two horns might be called a careless mistake. The editors should have checked it."

He further claimed that there were several other errors made in the text. He added that the text completely misses the fact that the largest population of rhinoceros is found in the alluvial plains of the Brahmaputra in Assam and one-horned rhinos being the state animal of Assam.

"The NCERT textbook has also portrayed floods, along with poaching, as a villain threatening the rhinos. However, floods are a natural phenomenon that is a natural process that helps the species through natural selection," Talukdar added.

He states that the number of rhinoceros in Assam's Kaziranga was just 366 in 1966. The Kaziranga National Park saw a series of floods but the number of rhinos there now stands at 2,600. 

 

Moreover, people  are also calling out the larger problem and neglience from the end of the editor, "According to NCERT, rhino horns have 'medicinal' values. Perpetuating among young kids the myth that leads to poaching. The editors need not only blacklisting but also legal action for promoting illegal wildlife trade," said Utpal Borpujari, a National Award-winning filmmaker from Assam.

 

Raising awareness about rhino poaching and animal part smuggling is crucial, However, misrepresenting the Indian rhino with two horns and adding myth about the animal in the name of dissemination of knowledge only fuels misinformation and does more harm than good.