J&K pulls school library books over content 'glorifying' separatist leaders, suspends 8 officials

📌 Summary:

• J&K government withdrew two books — 'Personalities and Legends of J&K' and 'Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir' — from school libraries for "highly inappropriate content" on separatism

• The books were supplied to school libraries under Samagra Shiksha for higher secondary classes (123 and 128 copies respectively across Jammu, Ramban, Udhampur and Baramulla districts)

• Objectionable content: one book calls Maqbool Bhat (co-founder of separatist JKLF, hanged in Tihar Jail on murder charges) 'shaheed' (martyr) and frames his exfiltration to Pakistan as sacrifice; another chapter valorises Hashim Qureshi, who hijacked an Indian Airlines plane in January 1971

• 8 school education department officials suspended, 1 contractual employee terminated; authors and publishing houses blacklisted from publishing in the UT

• High-level inquiry set up under Financial Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary, with 30 days to report; the order cites "serious negligence, dereliction of duty and lack of due diligence" with potential to create law-and-order issues

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Internal Security — radicalisation through education material in J&K, state response to separatist narratives; GS2 Governance — accountability in public procurement of curriculum material.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Samagra Shiksha is the integrated centrally sponsored scheme for school education (pre-school to class 12)
• Maqbool Bhat co-founded the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF)
• The 1971 Indian Airlines hijacking (Srinagar–Lahore 'Ganga' flight) was carried out by Hashim Qureshi

🔑 Key Term: Samagra Shiksha — umbrella scheme for school education subsuming SSA, RMSA and Teacher Education, under which library books were procured.