Modi Ends Israel Visit With Paltry 'List of Outcomes' and an Ersatz Medal; SC Flexes Muscles, to Defend Image; What AI Sovereignty Really Means
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February 26, 2026
Siddharth Varadarajan
Lowering the boom on the NCERT – the government body that designs school curricula and publishes textbooks – the Supreme Court today banned its new social science textbook for class 8 students because it contained a section on ‘corruption in the judiciary’. The bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant also issued a show cause notice to the NCERT’s director and to the Union school education secretary, accusing them of contempt of court. It said the “reckless, irresponsible, motivated, contemptuous conduct and manner” of the textual depiction was meant to instil a bias against the judiciary in the “impressionable minds” of young school children, and through them, to the society at large and even future generations. However, the court said its proceedings were not meant to “stifle any legitimate criticism”.
Given that the Supreme Court last year uploaded a video of a horde of cash allegedly stashed in the official residence of a high court judge, the CJI’s reaction might seem a little exaggerated. It is also worth asking whether the Supreme Court actually has the power to ban books. “The answer is very straightforward, and it is: no,” argues Gautam Bhatia. Per Article 19, “the judiciary does not have the constitutional power to directly restrict speech (that is, to ban books or censor films via judicial decree)”.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Israel came to an end today and there could not have been a more paltry official outcome. Considering the reputational costs India has incurred by having its prime minister visit an Israeli leader officially indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, the list of “17 MOUs/agreements” and “10 announcements” put out by the Ministry of External Affairs looks and feels pitiable. Of these, the most significant is the plan to send as many as 50,000 Indian workers to Israel over the next five years. There is nothing in this list to have warranted a high level visit at this time, which raises the question of why Modi was so keen to travel to Israel. Yes, he added one more (ersatz) award to his collection – the ‘Knesset Medal’ – but the Israeli human rights activist Eitay Mack says this “stands out as one of the most baffling – and embarrassing – visits by a foreign leader to Israel in recent memory” and says Modi most likely wanted to use Netanyahu as a
