GUWAHATI, Oct 1 � The digital archive of the Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development was opened today by noted folklorist and former president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha Prof Birendranath Dutta at a function held in the Barbari premises of the institute.
The archive hosts over 4,000 rare and significant documents connected with various socio-political and economic developments concerning the Northeast region. Another 2,000 documents will be added to it by the end of this year. It will be web-linked after about a year.
The archive provides access to some important colonial files and documents on coal mining in Meghalaya, memoranda of various organisations, newspaper clippings on the Assam agitation, numerous vernacular magazines published in the post-colonial period, collection of newspapers, Government reports and the public appeals made by various organisations.
The digital archive is one of the flagship projects of the institute, which was conceived under the Peace Studies Programme in March 2010. It is fully catalogued with the facility of user-friendly keyword-based search options.
Addressing the function, presided over by chairman of the institute Prof Atul Sarma, Prof Bhupen Sarma and Joydeep Baruah of the institute appealed to the people to extend help in expanding the size of the archive by contributing documents.
