The construction of the Archives department’s International Archives and Research Centre at Karyavattom will be completed this year, Minister for Archives Ahammad Devarkovil has said. He was speaking after inaugurating the eOffice file management system and e-payment mechanism at the Archives Directorate here on Thursday.
Mr. Devarkovil said the centre was being set up with the aim of raising to international standards conservation of palm-leaf manuscripts dating as far back as 14th century and promoting research on these and other records in possession of the department. It is being set up on one acre of land in a joint initiative with the University of Kerala.
Access to researchers
By paying a fee fixed by the department, researchers will be allowed to access the palm-leaf and other records for a fixed period for conducting research. Individuals too will be able to get copies of records, such as land records, from the archives collection by paying through the e-payment gateway, the Minister said.
e-governance was being implemented to make available government services to the public quickly and in a transparent manner. Applications for research and for copies of records can be received online, perused, and sanctioned through the new mechanism.
Digitised records
The records were being digitised too. Records pertaining to the past two decades were being digitised. Once these were available online, researchers anywhere in the world would be able to access these. A software was being prepared for this.
The eOffice and e-payment systems would be implemented this year in the department’s regional offices and heritage offices, the Minister said. Archives Director Rejikumar K. presided.
