For becoming developed country, India should be world leader in field of archives too: MoS Culture

New Delhi, Mar 11 (PTI) If India has to become a developed country, it should strive to become a “world leader” across all sectors, including in the field of archives, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said on Monday and asserted that the Modi government’s mission is “Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi”.

In his address during an event held here at the National Archives of India (NAI) on its 134th foundation day, he said that work culture needs to change when it comes to societal attitude towards the elderly and old archival resources.

The minister of state for culture in a lighter vein said that many retired people say that their children tell them that “they are old and fit to be kept in an ‘archive'”.

“That work culture needs to be changed… the elderly are part of the country’s legacy,” he asserted.

Meghwal said the central government driven by the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about “Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi (development along with heritage preservation)”.

“Our mission is ‘Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi’,” the minister said.

He also launched a digital exhibition ‘Subhas Abhinandan’, based on the life and legacy of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, drawing from the archives the NAI.

“India should become a world leader… If it has to become a developed country, it should become a world leader. No sector should be left in which we are not a world leader. The archives sector should also be such that other countries would come and admire these archival treasures of India,” he added.

He cited the example of yoga and Ayush, saying these are sectors in which the “world looks at India”.

As also launching of satellites, other countries can do it, but “India offers quality and affordability”, he said.

Meghwal said the Modi government has emphasised on the upkeep of heritage and taking pride in the country’s rich cultural legacy. “Earlier, not much attention was paid to our ‘virasat’ (heritage),” he said.

Later, the culture ministry issued an statement on the exhibition.

In this period of ‘Amrit Kaal’, “to strengthen our roots and lay the foundation of the future, it is extremely important to depict, read, write and understand our history that laid the foundation of modern India”, he was quoted as saying in the statement.

“The National Archives of India, at present, has in its repositories a collection of over 34 crore pages of public records, which include files, volumes, maps, bills assented to by the President of India, treaties, rare manuscripts, oriental records, private papers, cartographic records, important collection of gazettes and gazetteers, census records, assembly and parliament debates, proscribed literature, travel accounts etc. A major chunk of oriental records is in Sanskrit, Persian and Odia,” the statement said.