The Andhra Pradesh government is planning to set up its own State Archives and put its glorious history on display. If need be, the British records will be tweaked to correct any factual errors.
The government’s idea is to have its own archive entity post bifurcation, and update and preserve the historical and latest records on iconic projects that are under execution.
Committee constituted
As part of the basic exercise pertaining to the initiative, a committee has already been constituted, according to Principal Secretary, General Administration (GAD), Nagulapalli Srikanth.
Besides Mr. Srikanth, the committee comprises Dr. Manmohan Singh, Special Chief Secretary, Land, Endowments and Disaster Management, and M. Ravi Chandra, Special Chief Secretary, Finance.
Speaking to The Hindu at the Secretariat here, Mr. Srikanth said, “The State government has appointed us to take the idea forward. We have constituted a five-member committee of experts. Based on the inputs from the committee, we will initiate further steps in a month’s time.”
The historical records pertaining to A.P. are still lying with the Hyderabad- based combined entity, the A.P. State Archives and Research Institute, which remains the property of Telangana. Once set up, all the records will be brought to the new State Archives.
Apparently, considerable thought has been given before conceiving the idea. It is given to understand that the archives of Germany, France, and other countries have been studied thoroughly before arriving at a conclusion that the A.P. Archives should not only be a record of events but also a source of inspiration to posterity.
Glorious history
“People would like to have their glorious part of history to be highlighted so that the future generations are inspired. The effort of the government is to do the same,” said Mr. Srikanth.
Distortions in the British records, if any, would also be tweaked to present the reality relevant to Andhra Pradesh. The government is keen on leaving a lasting impression on Andhra Pradesh, its history, its orders, and its culture and traditions through the archives.
The objective is to inspire the future generations through interesting episodes on how Andhra State evolved and took shape post bifurcation and how major projects such as Amaravati and the iconic Polavaram project were planned and executed.
“Details of the archives building, space, architecture, and infrastructure around the building will be planned soon,” Mr. Srikanth said.
