Bharatiyata and the national education policy 2020: negotiating contested visions of Indianness in educational reform

This paper explores the complex idea of Bharatiyata (Indianness) from the inter-disciplinary points of view of Indian thinkers, like Tagore, Ambedkar, Vivekananda, Savarkar, Upadhyaya, Thapar, and others. It finds common threads like spiritual-cultural oneness, social justice, anti-colonial struggle, moral conduct (Dharma), and inclusive pluralism embedded in their ideas. Next, the essay critically examines in what manner India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 (Government of India, 2020) synthesizes the various conceptions of Bharatiyata in its education policy. The analysis finds substantial convergence, especially with regard to emphasis on Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), multilingualism, holistic growth, and embeddedness; yet, it also finds essential tensions emerging from differing scholarly imaginations and possible essentialism. Therefore, the paper contends that effective implementation of NEP 2020 depends on taking a dialogic, non-stratified perspective towards Bharatiyata in education. This requires ensuring that policy is attuned to India's civilizational continuity but proactively addresses prevailing social inequalities. Practical suggestions include curriculum planning decentralization, robust rigorous IKS research, and critical thinking on disputed narratives of identity.