The Memory Of Our Nation

By Vinaya Kumar The National Archives of India situated in New Delhi is virtually the Memory of our Nation, as it enshrines all our archival history, especially since 1748.

Its record holdings run into 40 kilometres of shelf-space area.

Besides English, the records are in Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Sanskrit and Urdu.

In its archives are works as old as the Gilgit inscriptions dating from the early centuries of the Christian era.

The total holdings comprise of 35,25,996 files; 1,92,135 volumes; 1,10,333 maps and cartographic items; 3,601 Bills assented to by the President(s) of India 1065 Treaties and 2442 rare manuscripts.

In addition, there is a rich collection of private papers apart from more than 7000 microfilm rolls of records acquired from different countries such as Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Myanmar, United Kingdom and United States .

The records are broadly of four categories: public records, oriental records, manuscripts and private papers.

These records focus on the activities of the later Mughals, the British East India Company, the British Rule and the emergence and growth of the freedom struggle.

The major collections of Indian private papers in National Archives are those of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dadabhai Naoroji, Field Marshal (Rtd.) K.M.

Sivaswamy Aiyer, M.R Jayakar, Dr.

Ambedkar, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Sardar Patel, G.K.

Gokhale, Ramanujam and Purushottam Das Tandon.

These papers offer insight into different phases of our Freedom struggle, The National Archives of India is an attached office under the Ministry of Culture.

It was set up in March 1891 at Kolkata as the Imperial Record Department and shifted to New Delhi following the transfer of the capital in 1912.

It was intended as a permanent solution to the management, storage and preservation of government records.

The first archivist was Sir G.W.

Forrest, a noted scholar and administrator.

Forrest was succeeded by a series of British archivists such as Samuel Hill, Denison Ross and Alwyn Scholfield.

The Imperial Record Department was transferred to Delhi with the completion of the present building in 1926 although the transfer of records was not completed until 1937.

The Imperial Record Department was renamed the National Archives of India with independence in 1947.

The National Archives employs over 500 staff, many of whom have scientific qualifications as well as records management skills.

Approximately 50 per cent of the staff hold a relevant qualification and many have worked in the institution for over 15 years.

Since 1947 the National Archives of India has established three regional offices at Bhopal, Jaipur Bhubaneshwar and Pondicherry.

Whenever important microfilms of nationally important documents are made, it is ensured that one copy is sent to the regional office at Bhopal as a safety measbure.

It is not realized that spread over the twenty eight states of India, there are literally hundreds of public and private archives.

The National Archives of India has no administrative control over the State Archives.

However, it tenders professional and technical advice and assistance to states for proper management of records and their use for historical research and development.

It also provides financial assistance to State Archives for proper up-keep, publication and microfilming of rare manuscripts/books in their custody.

On July 6,1998, the President Shri K.R.

Narayanan declared open the Museum of the National Archives to the general public .

Among the hundreds of exhibits on display are the Parwana of Ala Khan in Persian dated 19 October 1352 (Oldest document on paper in National Archives of India), the document ordering the Execution of Mangal Pandey, an event which led to the Great Uprising of 1857, and seals of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab.

In 2001 the new annexe of the National Archives at a cost 20 crores of rupees was completed.Among the valuable records deposited in the Annexe are hundreds of documents of the historic 'Gandhi murder trial papers' containing testimonies, police records and special branch reports.

It should be noted that the National Archives receives only a small percentage of the amount required for the up to date maintenace of its facilities.

Many international scholars who have worked in the National Archives of India give it only 70 percent marks.

They point out that many priceless documents of the Indian Freedom Movement, like the letters of Mahatma Gandhi & Pandit Nehru are not with the archives, but with the Nehru Memorial Museum, whose executive body/research facility policy changes with each new government.

Some files up to 1947 are still closed due to political sensitivities.

Otherwise, the 30 year rule of throwing open the records to researchers applies and it is up to the originating agency to declassify records.

However, it should be noted that the existence of these finding aids for government records does not necessarily indicate that the records are available.

Up to 40 per cent of requests for records (especially those for the pre-1947 period) can be returned as 'NT or Not Traceable'.

-(Maharaja Features) Use The Brahmaputra Or Lose It By K.

Vasudeva In the 1950's we lost the 38000 square kilometre Aksaichin plateau in Kashmir to the Chinese, as we did not safeguard it.

In the 2000's we are losing the mighty Brahmaputra to the Chinese.

As it is, calculated by computer, the world population in 2050 would be 9.4 billion humans as compared to 6.6 billion in 2007.

By 2050, the world will be so short of water, that major wars might be necessary to ensure the rights of lower riparian nations.

After all, only one percent of the total volume of the water in the earth is potable!.Based on what is China trying to do to harness the Brahmaputra, when their task is completed, it will be too late for us.

Unless we make a well planned attempt to utilize the waters of this great river Brahmaputra, to the maximum extent possible, international conventions regarding rights of upper riparian/lower riparians of rivers will make it difficult for us to mobilize world opinion against this river loot.

Like India, two of the most acute problemsÿChina faces today, are food and water.

These two issues are closely linked and to irrigation facilities 'Hydrologically, there are two Chinas - the humid south, which includes the Yangtze River basin and everything south of it, and the north, which includes all the country north of the Yangtze basin.

The south, with 700 million people, has one third of the nation's cropland and four fifths of its water.

The north, with 550 million people, has two thirds of the cropland and one fifth of the water.

As such the water per hectare of cropland in the north is one eighth to that of the south.' The easiest way for China to sort out the matter is to utilize the Brahmaputra and its tributaries to provide the water required.

Originating from a glacier near Kailash, the 2,906 km long Brahmaputra is the largest river on the Tibetan plateau and the highest on earth.

Known as the Tsangpo in China, it traverses, its first stretch of 1,625 km in Tibet, the next 918 km in India and the remaining 363 km through Bangladesh before converging into the Bay of Bengal.

China has found out that in Tibet the Brahmaputra's gorge forms the longest and the deepest canyon in the world.

It is in this Great Gorge, that China is planning one of the most important projects of the diversion scheme.

There are two parts: One is the construction of the world's largest hydroelectric plant on the Great Gorge dwarfing all other similar projects (it will generate 40,000 megawatts, more than the total hydro electricity produced India in 2006).

The second is the diversion of the waters of the river into a dam with the capacity of 300 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) which will be pumped northward across hundreds of kilometers of mountainous region to China's northwestern provinces of Xinjiang and Gansu.

Taking into view that it is impossible to divert the mighty Brahmputra conventionally, China is planning to accomplish this project "with nuclear explosives" The estimated capacity of the Brahmaputra is 590 BCM.

Without any dams to curtail it, at the moment, 500 BCM of water flows through India.

With China intercepting 300 BCM, India will get only 200 BCM, compared to the 500 BCM we are getting today.

But by harnessing the 30 tributaries of the Brahmaputra, which flow through Arunachal Pradesh, India can get another 150 BCM, still short by 50 BCM.

This projects will cost a lot and is not likely to be completed whereas, China is planning out its project silently and steadily, like it did in the Akshaichin.

As is known, in a parallel similar case, China had dammed the Sutlej river, without our knowledge/permission, just before it enters Indian Punjab.

Other than cursory comments, they do not give warning to India, if any of the dams are over flowing and we have to solely depend on satellite photographs to get advance notice of any flooding and this makes our remedial efforts to save our population too late.

Then the question comes..Can we stop this calamity?.

The answer is No..Even in India, we are thinking of linking all the rivers where possible and use it for agriculture/hydro electric production.

How can you deny this right to China?.

However, given the concept of 'existing uses' in international law, existing usage in the lower riparian cannot be harmed by new projects in the upper riparian.

To put it differently ,if India develops its river basin in its territory, before China, then it would not be right for that country to implement projects, that would affect the completed projects in India.

The bitter fact is that India doesn't have the luxury of time.

In a democratic set up like ours, we cannot force states, like Arunachal Pradesh ( with a capacity of producting 100000 megawatts, more than twice our 2006 output)to toe the line regarding sharing the benefits of hydro power projects in an all India grid.

Nor can we build dams without the democratically approved compensation to the owners, whose property will be flooded.

But unlike us, in China, the Central Government just imposes its decision on the citizens and the different states, when it comes to development projects..

In short, if India can develop a well synthesized plan to use the Brahmaputra , much before the Chinese complete their harnessing of the great river within the next twenty years, then we will have at least an arguable case.

It is a case of Use the Brahmaputra or Lose it.

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