LAHORE: Taking a big leap towards digitizing its half-million documents with history since the Mughal period, the Punjab archives department has solved 27,000 archives and purchased four specialized scanners to scan them.
"The slow project of digitalization, preservation and modernization of the department of archives of Punjab has received a new impulse, through important steps to protect the valuable registry and also make it available to people," says the director of archives, Abbas Chughtai .
According to him, a committee, at the request of the secretary of archives, recently reviewed the cost of the project to Rs100 million, saving Rs57 million from the originally approved cost without reducing the scope of work. The project is being executed by the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and the funds have been made available.
A series of tasks have been completed within the framework of the digitization project, including the classification of around 27,000 files, more than 100 preliminary status reports, preparation of digital coding rules and test scanning of almost 6,000 pages.
Research work is also being done on different topics, including fairs and communication networks in British Punjab. The project website is fully functional with all the necessary information.
The 27,000 ordered files contain the record of the Colonial Period (1849-86) of Lahore's Residence, Sutlej Territories, General Department of Housing, Department of Revenue, Judicial Department, Political Department, Mutiny Telegrams, Registry of Agencies. The classification process is in progress.
The "Preliminary Condition Reports" are the main part of conservation and so far 103 reports of the Mutiny Telegrams 1857-1858 record have been completed.
Similarly, the cataloging of 2,000 files has also been completed from the Mutiny Telegrams register 1857 – 1858 and the cataloging of the Agency Registry is currently underway. The scan of 5,721 pages of 112 files has been completed from the Mutiny Telegrams record 1857-1858.
The director says that four book scanners (basic comfort scanners) were received from the PITB, but will be installed in the Tomb of the Anarkali Civil Secretariat, after the temperature reduction. Once the scanners are installed and the formalities are completed, the project will open in the near future.
Chughtai says that a cutting-edge archives website launched in July this year is fully functional and is another step towards digitizing a rare record.
He claims that the Punjab archives department maintains one of the largest collections of historical documents in the subcontinent. It is estimated that this collection, located partially in the Anarkali Tomb in the Civil Secretariat of Punjab, contains 80,000 books and several million documents, as well as an excellent collection of lithographs, miniature paintings, stamps and coins.
The documents, once stored at the back of the chief secretary's block, are stored in boxes at the top of the Secretariat's H block since the colonial library became the chief secretary's conference room a decade ago.
The file was established in 1923 by Lieutenant Colonel H L O Garret. Records stored in the archives officially began with the establishment of the Ludhiana and Ambala agencies in the early 19th century. However, a large number of documents prior to this are also available, the oldest dating back to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan's government in the 17th century. In the archives there are extensive records of the Sikh and British rules in Punjab, as well as other parts of the subcontinent.
The English record includes a large number of documents from government departments established under the Board of Administration established in Punjab after the British annexed the province in 1849. This collection also includes official documentation, geographical dictionaries and correspondence not only from Punjab, but also from other areas of the subcontinent.
The records of the Residence and the Delhi Agency were transferred to Punjab in 1857. Apart from this, the records of Ludhiana, Ambala, Karnal and what was then the northwest border, as well as the divisions of Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan and tribal agencies, before the establishment of a separate administrative unit for that region, are also in this collection. Sindh records are also included after Charles Napier annexed him until such time as the province became part of the Mumbai Presidency, as well as records of the occupation of Baluchistan's tribal areas.
The collection also includes reports on annual administration, budgets, typography, archeology, medical and health services, agriculture, forestry, censuses, income surveys, settlement and railroad industries, presented by various commissions, central and provincial committees and conferences.
The director says that the digitalization of this project will be completed in June next year due to the personal interest shown by the Secretary of Archives, Tahir Yousaf. The project will include selected documents from the Mughal and pre-colonial period. Scholars, researchers and students in good faith could obtain an online list of the archives. Copies will be provided upon request and when meeting a certain criteria, Chughtai said.
Posted on Dawn, September 23, 2019
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1506809/punjab-archives-dept-digitising-the-biggest-trove-of-history-documents-in-subcontinent