The Prescribed Truth March 5, 2021 A resident of Kargil enters a bunker for protection during the 1999 conflict between Pakistan and India. Mustafa Tauseef—AFP The accuracy of textbooks on national politics is often victim to prevailing demands of the ‘national narrative’ Textbooks dealing with national politics are supposed to be collections of prescribed knowledge, which don’t necessarily tell the truth if it goes against the accepted “national narrative.” National myths are made permanent in the textbook; and if you deviate as a student-examinee from its “truths” you can actually fail exams. In this way, textbooks tend to become falsification of facts when it comes to the ideology of the state and its “action” in pursuit of its ideology and policy.