Barely three months before board exams of class 10, noted Hindi writer Krishan Chander’s story ”Jamun Ka Ped”, a well-known satire on red tapism, has been dropped by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) from its Hindi syllabus without any reason, attracting criticism from noted poets.

“The story, titled ‘Jamun Ka Ped’, by Krishna Chander under short stories of Hindi ICSE (class 10) prescribed textbook will not be tested for the year 2020 and 2021 examination. The concerned teachers and candidates should be informed accordingly,” an official order by the ICSE said.

According to The Telegraph Gerry Arathoon, secretary and chief executive of the council, the story had been dropped because it was “not appropriate for Class X students,” he did not explain why, or say who had objected to the story.

‘Jamun Ka Ped’, written in the 1960s, is a satire on bureaucratic red tape told through the story of a well-known poet who gets trapped under a Jamun tree in the lawns of a secretariat building after a thunderstorm.

The tree needs to be cut for the poet to be rescued but the story talks about how the buck keeps on passing from a gardener, who reports the matter to a peon, who takes it further to the clerk and then it reaches the building superintendent.

After clearance from the forest department, the request lands up with the culture department since the person involved was a poet, who then passes it to the foreign affairs department as the tree was planted by the prime minister of a neighbouring country.

The department rejects the request saying it may affect ties with the country and ultimately the matter is referred to the Prime Minister’s Office but the PM is on a foreign trip.

The request is placed before the prime minister when he returns and ultimately a go-ahead is given for cutting the tree to save the man. By the time the order from the PMO reaches the building superintendent, the poet dies.

Besides writing in Hindi and Urdu, Krishan Chander also wrote in English. He also penned screenplays for noted Bollywood films like ”Dharti Ke Lal”, ”Mamta” and ”Sharafat’.’

Veteran Hindi poet Ashok Chakradhar said the students are mature enough to understand the satire. “I think students of class 10 are mature enough to understand satire and decide what is appropriate or inappropriate. If the decision-makers think red tape is over in the country then they should sure remove ”Jamun Ka Ped” from textbooks because the story’s purpose has been achieved,” he told PTI.

Echoing his views, Bhopal-based poet Rajesh Joshi, whose poems are also prescribed in government schools and colleges, said, “It is not like students of class 10 do not understand what corruption is…The government should be able to face it. This situation is like removing a mirror from your house instead of fixing your face.”

Author and leading satirist Sampat Saral said he saw no reason with the language or content of ”Jamun ka Ped” being inappropriate for teenagers.

“This particular story is among the top 10 best satire works that I have come across. The students who now study complex mathematical and scientific problems in schools are aware of what is happening is establishment. How files get stuck in the red tape of the system for years. The establishment has always feared satire,” said Jaipur-based Saral.

The trend of “over-centralisation” by the current government and its attempts to tweak the syllabus of primary and secondary education to introduce a certain narrative has been criticised by many.