The government on Saturday constituted a three-member panel of historians to make a 'quick review' of allegations of communalisation and inadequacies in NCERT history textbooks introduced by the previous BJP-led coalition government in the current year's school syllabus.

The members of the panel are:
1. S Settar, a visiting professor at the Bangalore-based National Institute of Advances Studies and distinguished historian of ancient India
2. J S Grewal, former vice chancellor Guru Nanak Dev University
3. Barun De, an expert on modern India

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The controversy over the history text books has engaged public and academic attention for a long time. These books have been mostly printed for the current year and are already in use in a substantial number of schools, an official release said.

"It is, therefore, impractical to withdraw these books at this stage and replace them with more appropriate books without causing dislocation in the studies of million of students. However, the same impracticability should not result in children learning either communal views or distorted facts of history," it said.

The HRD ministry considers it necessary to 'do a quick review of these books by a panel of eminent historians of impeccable credentials to suggest what needs to be done in the short term'.

If the panel so recommended, the government would direct NCERT and CBSE to issue appropriate directions to teachers to transact the curriculum as per those recommendations.

"In particular, the recommendations should be for removing distorted and communally biased portions and for inclusion of short passages which will fill in the gaps that some of these books are supposed to be having or could develop after the removal of the aforesaid mentioned passages," it said adding the panel will "advise on these issues."

Processes have been initiated to effect long-term remedial measures, including reconstitution of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) and initiation of the process of curriculum framework review.