GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday ceremonially dedicated ‘Digitizing Asom’, a community project aimed at digitization of rare Assamese journals and books published between 1813 and 1970, for public use at an event organized at the Janata Bhawan premises.
An initiative of the Nanda Talukdar Foundation and supported by the Assam Jatiya Bidyalay Educational Socio-Economic Trust, Digitizing Asom is aimed at digitizing every possible rare Assamese language book and journal, regardless of their location, and making them available to the public for posterity through the website www.assamarchive.org that can be accessed free-of-cost with a simple log-in process.
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In the first phase of the project, that is, the portion launched on Thursday, journals published between 1840 and 1970 have been included encompassing 3071 editions of as many as 161 journals with a total of 2,45,680 pages.
Also read: Tezpur University initiative: Rare historic documents of Assam digitized
The second phase of the project, under process, shall cover books published between 1813 and 1962.
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Addressing the event, Assam Chief Minister Dr Sarma said launch of Digitizing Asom would prove decisive in conferring the world of Assamese literature its rightful exalted status in days to come.
Mrinal Talukdar, the Secretary of Nanda Talukdar Foundation, deserves applause from all sections of society for his role in the project which he has been painstakingly leading from the front for the past two decades, Dr Sarma said.
Referring to the 19th century as the era that led to a new dawn for Assamese literature, Assam Chief Minister Dr Sarma credited literary stalwarts such as Lakshminath Bezbaruah, Chandra Kumar Agarwala and Hemchandra Goswami for their forward march.
Also read: Assam CM at launch of Digitizing Asom
The 20th century brought with itself greater avenues for growth of Assamese literature, the Chief Minister added.
Referring to the 21st century as the ‘digital era’, Assam Chief Minister Dr. Sarma said digitizing of rare Assamese literary works would go a long way in preserving such remarkable works for ages.
The coming generations would be able to appreciate the works of literary gems in the Assamese language through such initiatives, the Chief Minister added.
Stating that a large number of literary works have not been digitized under the first phase of the project as many such journals, books are no longer available in the public domain, Assam CM appealed to members of the general public in posession of such rare works to come forward so that all books can be digitized.
The Chief Minister also assured of all necessary support from the government, including financial, towards Digitizing Asom.
Notably, from June 1 next, all files in offices of deputy commissioner and the directorates shall be processed only in digital format, the Chief Minister added.
Today’s event was also attended by Dr Dilip Dutta Choudhury, the Chairman of Assam Jatiyo Bidyalay Educational and Socio-Economic Trust, and its secretary Dr Narayan Sarma.