Royal papers at Bihar State Archives soon

PATNA: Now, the rare and priceless private papers of the erstwhile rajas and maharajas of Bihar will be on display at the Bihar State Archives (BSA). So far, these papers have been lying in a dingy corner of the Patna Museum premises for the past several decades.

These papers are currently with the Regional Records Survey Committee (RRSC) of the state higher education department. A recent meeting of the state representatives of the National Register of Private Records (NRPR) here decided that RRSC, henceforth, should be attached to the BSA.

Representatives of Maharashtra, UP, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, New Delhi and Haryana attended the meeting chaired by the BSA director, Vijay Kumar. The director-general of the archives and the convener of the National Register of Private Records, SMR Baqar, also attended the meeting. To protect all these rare private papers, Kumar told TOI that the regional records survey committee has to be revamped for effective implementation of the scheme. “Soon after the meeting, I immediately took up the matter with the government to take the necessary step,” said the director.

The office of the survey committee is not properly maintained at all. “We hardly get any visitor to read these old records of the erstwhile maharajas,” rued an employee. “The committee hardly has any inventory of all these old records,” said a fourth grade employee.

According to the decisions, a full-fledged regional records survey committee should meet at least once a year and as often as necessary. The committee should survey all the materials of archival value and generally relate to the post-1600 period of Indian history, extending to 1947 (1961 in case of Goa).

Old materials of descendants of historic families, rajas, zamindars, etc would be within the scope of the private records scheme. Also, documents and records, acquired by the state/Union Territory archives, will not be covered by the National Register of Private Records Scheme.

However, personal documents in original or in microform, which have been acquired for conservation, would be included in the Private Records Scheme, said Kumar.

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