Non-vegetarians lie, indulge in sex crimes, NCERT textbook says

New Delhi, November 16: Yet another textbook in a CBSE school has sparked a controversy by allegedly insinuating that non-vegetarians lie, cheat and commit crimes, with the government terming it as "unfortunate" and asking state bodies to remain alert about such content and monitor them.

"Sensitivities of communities have to be kept in mind. I think its unfortunate, an occasional aberration happens. But what I would request is that the state body should always be on alert just like how NCERT is on alert and monitor the content ... that is what we can advocate from this Ministry," HRD minister MM Pallam Raju told reporters while replying to queries on the Class VI textbook.

CBSE on the other hand said they prescribe textbook only from class IX onwards and it is the school which decides on which books to prescribe for students in other classes.

The minister's reaction came after media reports highlighted the content of the textbook of a CBSE school.

The book titled New Healthway: Health, Hygiene, Physiology, Safety, Sex Education, Games and Exercises reportedly said that non-vegetarians "easily cheat, tell lies, they forget promises, they are dishonest and tell bad words, steal, fight and turn to violence and commit sex crimes."

The development came close on the heels of the ministry asking NCERT to present a report about some "objectionable" references in a CBSE textbook about Nadar community in Tamil Nadu.

State chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday demanded removal of "objectionable" references in a letter to the Prime Minister.

Ministry officials, however, said that Raju, who had earlier received representations in this regard, has already asked NCERT for a report soon.

The NCERT textbook committee is currently examining the issue.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the chief minister said the "incorrect" details in the textbook of class IX were "very misleading and may leave a wrong impression in the minds of the students" about the community.

"The Nadars are said to be descendants of those who ruled the Cheran, Cholan and Pandyan Kingdoms ... the Nadar community is not a lower caste as mentioned in the CBSE book. Rather, they have been rulers of South India at one point of time", the chief minister said.

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IndiGo CEO says less than 1,000 cancellations on Dec 6; normalcy by Dec 15

News Network

December 5,2025

New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said.

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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