Why Michel Danino's Scholarship Must Be Cherished And Celebrated The Supreme Court recently drew attention to Michel Danino’s work amid a controversy involving a Class 8 NCERT textbook chapter on "corruption in the judiciary." On 11 March, the court ordered the blacklisting of three experts, including Danino, for their involvement in drafting the chapter. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi, criticized the NCERT director’s response to the controversy, calling it "disturbing" after the chapter was rewritten without disclosing new experts or approval processes. The court directed the Union government and states to disassociate from Danino, Suparna Diwakar, and Alok Prasanna Kumar, citing concerns about their alleged misrepresentation of the Indian judiciary’s image to students. However, the three individuals were given the option to seek a modification of the order. Danino, a French-born Indian scholar and author, has been a subject of scrutiny in academic and media circles for years. Born in 1956 in Honfleur, France, he has lived in India since 1977 and holds Indian citizenship. Influenced by Sri Aurobindo and Auroville, he has dedicated his career to studying India’s ancient heritage. A visiting professor at IIT Gandhinagar, he has authored works such as The Lost River: On the Trail of the Sarasvati (2010) and Indian Culture and India’s Future (2011). He has also co-edited textbooks on Indian knowledge traditions and edited Sri Aurobindo and India’s Rebirth (2018). Critics have accused Danino of promoting an ideological agenda, particularly for his sympathetic portrayal of ancient India’s civilisational achievements, his defense of the Sarasvati river’s physical existence, and his questioning of the Aryan invasion theory.#supreme_court #ncert #michel_danino #surya_kant #joymalya_bagchi
