Rare Assamese journals, books to be digitised

A new community project named 'Digitising Asom' has been launched to digitise rare Assamese journals and books published between 1813 and 1970. The project seeks to make these invaluable literary works available for public use.

The Nanda Talukdar Foundation, in collaboration with the Assam Jatiya Bidyalay Educational & Socio-Economic Trust, has initiated a new project to digitise a vast collection of rare Assamese language books and journals. The project aims to make these literary treasures accessible to the public for posterity through a dedicated website.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma attended the launching ceremony on Thursday evening. The project is committed to digitising every possible rare Assamese language book and journal, regardless of location.

In the project's first phase, journals published between 1840 and 1970 have been included, encompassing 3071 editions of as many as 161 journals with a total of 2,45,680 pages. The project's second phase, under process, shall cover books published between 1813 and 1962.

Sarma said that the launch of this project would prove decisive in conferring the world of Assamese literature its rightful exalted status in days to come. Referring to the 19th century as the era that led to a new dawn for Assamese literature, he credited literary stalwarts such as Lakshminath Bezbaruah, Chandra Kumar Agarwala and Hemchandra Goswami for its forward march.

"The 20th century brought greater avenues for growth of Assamese literature," Sarma added.

Referring to the 21st century as the "digital era", he said digitising rare Assamese literary works would go a long way in preserving such remarkable works for ages.

"The coming generations would be able to appreciate the works of literary gems in the Assamese language through such initiatives. I appeal to members of the general public in possession of such rare works to come forward so that all books can be digitised," he said.