The two-days’ 47th Meeting of the National Committee of Archivists (NCA) was concluded on 19 March 2024 at the Sher-e Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), Srinagar. Delegates from Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh participated in person, while those from Haryana and West Bengal attended in virtual mode

During the two-days meeting, the delegates deliberated on various aspects that are required for revitalizing the archives administration and records management system in their respective State/ UTs, and underscored the need for leveraging full potential of the digital and AI technologies for this purpose. They agreed on adopting a focused and concerted approach for preserving and sharing the rich documentary heritage of the nation, and for making their archival resources easily accessible through Web-Portal.

The delegates also sought the guidance of the National Archives of India in formulating the guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), with regard to digitization of records.

It was also agreed that the NCA should also explore into new areas such as integration of Oral Archives and non-traditional archival sources into public archives in NAI, State and UTs.

In his address, Shri Arun Singhal, Director General of Archives and Chairman and Convener of NCA emphasised on the need for democratization of the valuable information contained in public and private records held in various State and Union Territory archives across India by making it easily accessible to the users through the Internet. He added that collaboration amongst the archival institutions in India is vital to provide unified search results on any given topic, on which archival material might be available in different repositories.

Shri Singhal laid a 10-point roadmap for development of archives in the country, viz.

(1) Know what you have

(2) Tell the world what you have,

(3) Keep it carefully,

(4) Make access easy,

(5) Digitize your collection,

(6) Repair and conservation wherever there is need,

(7) Have a web portal,

(8) Reach out to the public,

(9) Standardize operating procedures, and

(10) Discover and collaborate

The next meeting of NCA is scheduled to be held in Gujarat, later this year.

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 BY/SKT