SHWETA KAMAT
shweta@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Almost 428 years after its formation, Asia’s oldest archives – the Directorate of Archives, Goa is in process of drafting Archival Act with detail rules and guidelines for the public to regulate the management, administration and preservation of old and fragile documents.
The Act, which also speaks about appointing a designated Archive Officer in each of the government departments, corporations, public sector undertakings, is most likely to be tabled during the Monsoon Session of the Goa Legislative Assembly for its consent.
Established on February 25, 1595 by the famous historian Diogo do Couto, who was also its first record keeper, the Archives department was named as “Torre do Tombo do Estado da India”.
The archival treasure house, with Portuguese record dating back to the year 1498, was later shifted to Panjim due to the series of plagues in Old Goa. In 2019, the twin departments- Archives and Archaeology- become separate entities- bifurcating their mandate of conservation of records and monuments.
The Archives department has in its collection about 6,000 manuscripts in several languages including Portuguese, Arabic, and Persian languages besides Indian vernacular languages.
Speaking to O Heraldo, Director Archives, Deepak Bandekar said, “This is for the very first time that Archival Act is being framed. Currently, there is no Act to specify any rules and regulations for the functioning of the department. I am trying to frame it now. The work is on,” he said.
Bandekar said that the Act will specify as to what records need to be archived and how they should be preserved.
The Act will also speak about guidelines for public, like who all can apply for obtaining archival records, how much one can access and how many days a month should citizens be allowed for the same.
“At present there is no restriction on people who want to visit the department and examine or obtain the copy of the archival records. We need to streamline that,” he said, adding, “The Act would basically streamline the entire functioning of the department, which is very important.”
Bandekar said that the Act will have a provision to appoint or nominate a designated Archive Officer in each department, who will communicate with the Directorate of Archives as what is to be archived from a particular department.
“One has to understand that everything and anything cannot be archived,” he explained.
