The National Archives deserves attention, funds

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In March 2012, a research scholar from the Harvard University, Dinyar Patel, wrote a series of articles in The New York Times titled: “The appalling condition of India’s archives, the reasons for the neglect and what can be done to fix the problem”. In the series, Patel flagged issues such as neglect, poor preservation of records, slow pace of digitisation, the lack of facilities for scholars, and the dearth of post-Independence records for historical research. He went on to say that country’s rotting history has a fighting chance for survival.

For nearly 10 years, The National Archives of India (attached to the Union ministry of culture), was without a regular head. In 2010, Mushirul Hasan, a former vice-chancellor, was appointed as a full-time director-general for three years. He added manpower and the conservation of huge corpus of fragile documents, appraisal and transfer of records of the post-Independence period was taken up in a mission mode. This resulted in the acquisition of nearly six lakh files from the ministries and departments. Further, approximately 2.5 lakh pages, including some rare manuscripts, were digitised. The National Archives also became an intellectual hub. Hasan reportedly told Patel, “I wanted to provide a corrective to institutional malaise.”

Historical background:

The National Archives was established as the Imperial Record Department in Calcutta (Kolkata) on March 11, 1891. It moved to New Delhi in 1911, and its building was designed by Edwin Lutyens. It has the largest archival repository in South Asia with over six million files and records, dating back to early part of the British colonial rule. It also holds documents of the Mughal and the Sultanate periods. Besides, private collections of eminent Indians, cartographic records and microfilms are also preserved. The institution also boasts of possessing the largest collection of the rare Gilgit manuscripts, one of the oldest manuscripts pertaining to the 5th to the 6th century.

Today, the National Archives stands at the crossroads. With limited resources, managing the sheer volume of records — estimated around 200 million pages — is indeed a herculean task. The institution has recently embarked on the ambitious project of digitising approximately 45 million pages in a time-frame, disruption notwithstanding, particularly due to Covid-19. Old documents are being conserved scientifically by trained personnel. The issue of the dearth of post-Independence records has also been addressed to a large extent and the records have begun to flow in from the ministries and departments.

When the National Archives celebrated its 125th foundation day in 2016, it launched a search portal www.abhilekhpatal.in. Today, there are over 2.7 million reference media (catalogue), which scholars from over 80 countries are accessing. The portal now facilitates online access to documents through a payment gateway, a first-of-its-kind in Asia. The same year also saw the release of declassified files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army (INA) by the Prime Minister on January 23.

The Netaji portal provides public access to nearly 40,000 pages of the life and times of one of the stalwarts of the freedom movement. In 2017, the prime minister also inaugurated the centenary celebrations of the Champaran Satyagraha – the first mass movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi on by opening an exhibition. The same year, the National Archives was the knowledge partner in the celebrations of the centenary of Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad. These events brought the century-old institution into limelight again.

Despite the limitations, the institution has improved vastly. However, it deserves better investment. The preservation of tangible documentary heritage is certainly the collective responsibility of various stakeholders.

Tassadaque Hussain is former deputy-director of archives, Government of India

The views expressed are personal

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