From ‘Nimbooda’ to ‘Rind Posh Maal’: Bollywood songs in Odisha textbooks trigger row

3 min readBhubaneswarJun 29, 2026 10:48 PM IST

The state government has already suspended four senior officials, including the former SCERT director, based on the findings of the committee that probed the errors.

A Class 8 Odia textbook’s mention of Bollywood numbers ‘nimbooda…nimbooda’ and ‘Rind Posh Maal’ as examples of folk songs has kicked up a row, bringing more scrutiny to a state already reeling from a controversy over blunders in school textbooks.

The Class 8 book, Kruti (art education), features the lyrics of ‘nimbooda…nimbooda’, a song from the 1999 Bollywood hit ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ as an example of a Rajasthani folk song. It also has ‘Rind Posh Maal’, popularised by the 2000 movie ‘Mission Kashmir’, as an example of a Kashmir folk song.

The mention of these songs, along with the Odia song ‘Raja Doli’ in the Class 5 English book Pallavi and ‘Bumbro…Bumbro’ in the Class 3 book, as examples of folk songs have sparked a row. All four songs have folk roots, with ‘Rind Posh Maal’ originally penned as a love poem by the late 18th Century Kashmiri poet, Rasul Mir.

Meanwhile, the Class 6 textbook Kaushala Sikshya (skill education) teaches students how to prepare ‘Jhal Mudi’, fruit salad, buttermilk, ‘lassi’, ‘mint chutney’, ‘sandwich’ and ‘Kachumber raita’.

When contacted, a senior School and Mass Education Department official said the songs were included to familiarise students with the culture of various states.

“It has been done under the ‘Ek Bharat … Shresta Bharat’ initiative. Both the songs are there in the NCERT books from which we have brought it to books prepared by Odisha govt,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

This comes at a time when State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) textbooks are under increased scrutiny after 1,678 errors were found in them. At 705, the Class 8 textbooks account for the highest number of errors, including factual inaccuracies, grammatical mistakes, spelling errors and wrong references.

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Among the errors, the Karnataka Assembly building is identified as the Odisha Vidhan Sabha, Sir Isaac Newton is described as the “greatest pilot”, and Hampi in Karnataka is identified as the Konark Sun Temple.

The state government has already suspended four senior officials, including the former SCERT director, based on the findings of the committee that probed the errors. It has also announced implementation of the panel’s 14-point recommendations from the next academic session to rectify the errors.

Meanwhile, officials in the Odisha Text Book Production and Marketing (TBP&M) wing admitted that part of the textbook printing work was outsourced to private presses at a cost of Rs 21 crore. They said the TBP&M alone could not meet the entire printing requirement for the new textbooks.

Odisha School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond said revised pages carrying the required corrections will be distributed to schools and district education officers. These will serve as the official study material, while students will continue using the existing textbooks alongside the supplementary corrected pages.

Sujit Bisoyi is a Special Correspondent with the Indian Express and covers Odisha. His interests are in politics, policy and people’s stories. He tweets at @bisoyisujit87 ... Read More