5 million manuscripts may become extinct
25 Mar 2009, 0248 hrs IST, TNN
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4311587.cms

PUNE: Five million manuscripts are in danger of extinction due to lack of
government attention, said Ramesh Gaur, librarian and head of Kala Nidhi
division, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi.

Gaur, who has the largest collection of heritage items, was speaking at a
two-day Indo-US workshop on international trends in digital preservation',
organised by city-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing
(C-DAC). His topic was barriers to access to Indian cultural heritage'.

"Indian culture lies in ancient manuscripts. These are the basic historical
evidence and have great research value. It is estimated that India possesses
more than 5 million manuscripts, making it the largest repository of
manuscripts in the world. The immediate need is to preserve them through
digitisation, else they will soon vanish," he said.

Gaur said that several initiatives have been taken to preserve and provide
access to this invaluable source of Indian cultural heritage. However, there
is no coordinated effort in this direction. "We have laws, missions and
programmes but there's no clear-cut agenda or a common format of
preservation," he rued.

Gaur also gave a presentation on various issues currently faced in digital
preservation of cultural heritage which includes legal, economic as well as
language barriers. Gaur demanded a fresh look at Indian Copyright Act and
the Information Technology Act. "The legislation for deposit of digital
material may help in protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and
related acts," he suggested.

Other barriers, according to him, include technology issues with respect to
lack of infrastructure, vision, international standards of preservation and
also lack of digital archiving software. "Without adequate financial
resources neither cultural heritage can be preserved nor access can be
provided," he said.