As many as three lakh pages written in Persian and having intrinsic historical value have been digitised as a part of an understanding between the Iranian government-backed Noor International Microfilm Centre (NIMC) and the Telangana government.
The documents are housed at the Telangana State Archives and Research Institute and comprise handwritten manuscripts, treaties, documents of the Darul Insha, several books, ledgers, and firmans, among others. The MoU also entails a cataloguing of these Persian documents.
Given that these documents are old, they have become brittle owing to the vagaries of nature. The NIMC is also engaged in preserving these documents.
The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in India Dr Iraj Elahi spoke about the close ties between the two countries. He underscored that there have been several instances of cultural exchange between India and Iran. He pointed out that since Persian is the national language of Iran, they are keen on preserving it. He also said that Persian enjoyed patronage in India as well.
NIMC Director Mahdi Khajeh Piri said that his institution has worked with the National Archives of India, Jamia Millia Islamia, Rampur Raza Library, and many others. He said that digitisation and restoration of documents is under way.
