Digitisation of historical records resumes at Telangana Archives

Digitisation of historical records resumes at Telangana Archives
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The Telangana State Archives at Tarnaka is abuzz with activity one again. In the first phase, during 2013-14, 3.74 lakh records were digitised and microfilmed. “This time around, only records pertaining to Telangana would be digitised, the target is to complete 30 lakh pages in this quarter,” said Dr Zareena Parveen, director of State Archives.

Thanks to bifurcation issues, the much touted digitisation project was put on hold. Now, the project has started once again and 30 lakh pages are to be digitised in this quarter

  • 70 per cent of the archival material is in Persian and Urdu
  • Records dating back to 1724 are available
  • Already, 3,74,000 records have been digitised and microfilmed
  • Another 30 lakh pages are to be digitised in this quarter and a budget of Rs 50 lakh has been earmarked
  • In future, the entire work would be programmed into software to create a digital library and web-enabled service
  • Research scholars from across India, UK, USA and European countries visit the State Archives

The Telangana State Archives at Tarnaka is abuzz with activity one again. In the first phase, during 2013-14, 3.74 lakh records were digitised and microfilmed. “This time around, only records pertaining to Telangana would be digitised, the target is to complete 30 lakh pages in this quarter,” said Dr Zareena Parveen, director of State Archives.

It is after a one-year hiatus that digitisation work began this week. Thrinama Informatics, a Hyderabad based firm bagged the contract and has employed a team of 16 members working for it. MA Raqeeb, assistant director, TS Archives said, “There are records dating back to 1406. Valuable petitions, royal orders, records from the Mughal period to the Nizams are available. Compactor systems are modeled after the ones in National Archive of UK.”

“Once the digitisation work is complete the records will be microfilmed, the provision for which is being made,” said Raqeeb.

The compactor system is dust free, fire resistant and is as safe as bank lockers. They replace the age-old basta system of open racks. Rakesh Kumar Srivastav, a research scholar at the University of Hyderabad said, “The State Archives is a treasure trove and once digitised, research becomes easy. There are still a lot of manuscripts and firmans in which lay untold stories of a bygone era. There is still a lot to know about the administration during the Nizams. The move to restart the digitisation work should be welcomed by all.”

In the first phase, GOs from 1920 have been scanned, microfilmed and digitised.

By:T P Venu
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