Minister of State for Culture, Smt. Meenakashi Lekhi inaugurated an exhibition under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) titled “Hamari Bhasha, Hamari Virasat” on 9th June to celebrate 75th International Archives Day at National Archives of India, New Delhi.
Key points
- This exhibition is an endeavour to commemorate the treasured heritage of India’s linguistic diversity as a Nation: “राष्ट्र एक भाषा अनेक” India is blessed with extraordinary language diversity.
- According to an estimate out of 7,111 languages spoken globally, about 788 languages are spoken in India alone.
- India is thus one of the four most linguistically diversified countries in the world, along with Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Nigeria.
- On the occasion of International Archives Day, National Archives of India has made available the Gilgit Manuscripts written between the 5″ -6″ centuries CE, which is the oldest surviving manuscript collection in India.
- She also said that the birch bark folios documents written on pieces of inner layer of the bark of birch trees were found in Kashmir region and contain both canonical and non-canonical Jain and Buddhist works that throw light on the evolution of many religious-philosophical literature.
National Archives of India
- The National Archives of India was established on 11 March 1891 at Kolkata (Calcutta) as the Imperial Record Department.
- Following the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911, the present building of the National Archives of India was constructed in 1926 which was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
- The transfer of all records from Calcutta to New Delhi was completed in 1937.
- The National Archives of India is also the nodal agency for the implementation of the Public Records Act, 1993 and Public Record Rules, 1997.
