Preserving National Archives annexes of India

Synopsis- The government proposes to remove the National Archives of India’s Annexes as a part of the Central Vista redevelopment project. But the government proposal to remove the National Archives annexes required proper planning and execution to manage the process of shifting invaluable archives.

Introduction

• A group of archivists, scholars, historians, students, among others from across the world filed a petition. The petition has urged for greater transparency in the proposed removal of National Archives annexes.
• The petition also mentions that there has been no public consultation regarding the National Archives annexes. Further, the government proposal also not mentioned how to manage the process of shifting invaluable archives.

Importance of National Achieves of India

The National Archives of India contains records that contained several centuries of Indian history.

• The archival records include 4.5 million files, 25,000 rare manuscripts, 100,000 plus maps, treaties, 280,000 pre-modern documents and several thousand private papers.
• It also preserved the cartography section and 1,50,000 oriental records in Persian, Arabic and Urdu.
• According to UNESCO, the National Archives birchbark and clay-coated Gilgit Manuscripts are India’s oldest surviving manuscripts.
• So, The National Archives of India documents are naturally brittle and require delicate, expert handling. The loss or damage to a single object or archival record would be an irrevocable loss.

The present condition of NAI

Read Also :-Central Vista Project – Demolition of National Institutions

• Poor maintenance of Archives:  A series of articles published in The New York Times in 2012, highlighted the vulnerable state of the National Archives. The articles mention that Indian archives are exposed to humid weather, staff negligence and mishandling, and improper preservation methods. This led to ruining of national archives. The articles especially mentioned the vulnerability of letters penned by Mohandas K. Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, Gopalkrishna Gokhale, and other eminent Indian nationalists in particular.
• At present, there is a lack of expertise to manage certain national archives. This leads to the locking up of some rare documents in Persian, Urdu, Arabic, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tamil, Malayalam, and Modi (records from Maharashtra).

Suggestion to shift the National Archives annexes

• Wider public consultation is the need of the hour: The Indian government should arrange for public consultation. For example, the Federal Government of the United States decided to move the National Archive, there were extensive public consultations. No such measures were taken in India.
• Required careful planning and execution in moving the Archives –
  • Experts need to produce a detailed report on how to move the contents and share it with the government.
  • They should also recommend an integrated national strategy to archival management that includes state archives, as state archives are also in bad condition.
• Getting adequate information from global practices: Many best global practices are available on shifting national archives. For example, The British Library’s guide on “Moving Library and Archive Collections” is concise and comprehensive. India can follow such a guide to shift the national archives without any disruption.

Source – The Hindu

Read Also :-National Archives of India