NCERT releases new Class 9 Social Science book; links taxation with nation-building

Personal income-tax calculations, government welfare schemes and startup entrepreneurship have been included in the new Class 9 social science textbook part 2 ‘Understanding Society: India and Beyond’.

Indian governance traditions, policy-making and nation-building will be used as central themes in its political science chapters.

The textbook, released on Tuesday, introduces students to actual slab-wise income-tax calculations under the new tax regime.

The chapter ‘Managing Your Personal Finances’, contains tax slabs and worked examples and explains the payment of taxes as a civic responsibility. It also tells students that paying taxes “honestly and on time” is an important responsibility of citizens and links tax revenues to national development. It also uses Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY) as an example of financial protection for low-income households.

The chapter places health insurance, taxation and personal financial management within a broader discussion of citizens’ economic responsibilities.

The chapter ‘From Ideas to Startups’, turns to entrepreneurship. It cites the growth of Lijjat Papad, tracing it from seven Mumbai homemakers who pooled ₹80 in 1959 to a cooperative with 45,000 members and a reported turnover of ₹1,600 crore by 2023. It also profiles a Padma Bhushan hotelier Mohan Singh Oberoi, beginning with his job as a hotel desk clerk earning ₹50 a month and tracing his rise to the founder of one of India’s largest hotel chains.

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The chapter also brings the Chettiar community’s historical trading, banking and trust-based lending networks into the discussion of India’s local economy. The textbook presents the community’s centuries-old economic networks as part of an Indian-knowledge-systems perspective on commerce and finance.

Startups are subsequently linked to the government’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision and Atmanirbhar Bharat. A quote from Swami Vivekananda — “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached” — introduces a discussion of India’s 120-plus unicorns, with entrepreneurship presented in the context of the country’s development.

The textbook identifies six contributions of business: creating employment and income, producing goods and services, paying taxes, promoting innovation, improving quality of life and undertaking corporate social responsibility.

The political science chapter ‘Governance and Public Policy’, meanwhile, begins with historical symbols of governance and links institutions of government with historical traditions.

It brings together the national motto “Satyamev Jayate” from the Mundaka Upanishad, the Supreme Court’s motto “Yato Dharmastato Jayah” from the Mahabharata, and the Sengol, whose lineage is traced to the Chola dynasty and whose installation in the new Parliament building in 2023 is discussed as part of India’s governing traditions.

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The chapter presents good governance through a banyan-tree illustration, with people’s participation represented at its centre and seven branches depicting qualities of good governance. The accompanying message says that working together can build a “just, peaceful, and prosperous nation”.

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is also used as a case study in policymaking. The textbook describes it as an “excellent example” of consultative and evidence-based policymaking, effectively using a major government education reform to explain how public policies are formulated.

The political science chapter further uses Khelo Bharat Niti 2025 to explain the role of sport in nation-building, tracing the policy from the Central government to individual citizens.

Good governance is explained through seven principles: participation, rule of law, accountability, effectiveness, inclusiveness, responsiveness and transparency.

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A further section connects India’s startup economy with Viksit Bharat 2047 and Atmanirbhar Bharat. It refers to more than 120 Indian unicorns and discusses enterprises in e-commerce, fintech, healthcare and agritech.

Part 1 of the textbook, released in June 2026, had nine chapters: one on social science as a subject and two each on history, political science, economics and geography. Part 2 has six chapters: one each on history and political science, and two each on geography and economics.

NCERT is rolling out new textbooks under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023. It has so far released new textbooks for Classes 1 to 9.