Make Rashtrapati Bhavan accessible to public: Pranab Mukherjee

NEW DELHI: Every effort should be made to increase accessibility of Rashtrapati Bhavan to the public, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday as he launched a new section of digital initiatives on completing his first year in office.

"The common citizens of our country always have the desire and curiosity to know more about the highest constitutional office in the land," he said.

The President said he is very happy to note that a substantial portion of Rashtrapati Bhavan has been opened to public viewing by giving reasonable access to visitors "who want to explore its rich history and architectural heritage and the history leading to the creation of our nation".

"This would serve, in a good measure, to educate the young generation and inculcate in them a sense of pride and nationalism. I would like to see the Rashtrapati Bhavan playing an important role in further spreading this sense of pride amongst the citizens," he said.

As part of digital initiatives, historical speeches, documentaries and newsreels procured from AIR and Films Division have been added to the new-look Rashtrapati Bhavan website. A video, "The Presidency: Glimpses of First Year", will be added to the website which will cover important events over the past one year in the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the President's Estate.

A digital photo library with photographs of the first year of Mukherjee's presidency is being added to the website. Later on, the photo library will contain archival photographs of the first Governor General after Independence Rajagopalachari and Presidents since 1949. It is intended to help archival conservation through digitisation of old photographs and will be implemented in a phased manner through a user-friendly interface.

A face recognition feature was being added to the search engine of the photo library that will enable searching photographs with a given photo in the database and result in all matched photos. The photo library, when completed, is expected to have a database of over three million photographs, President's Press Secretary Venu Rajamony said.

A catalogue of 1525 old and rare books of Rashtrapati Bhavan is being added to the website for the information of public along with select portions of the audio-visual section of the library. The oldest book in the library -- "The Original Works of William Hogarth" -- dates back to 1795.

The audio-visual section includes historical speeches, newsreels and documentaries procured from sources like All India Radio and Films Division.

Rare historical speeches like "Tryst with Destiny" and "Death of Mahatma Gandhi" delivered by Jawarharlal Nehru and speeches of Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Mountbatten, C Rajagopalachari, former presidents and other prominent leaders will also be available in this section.

The films include archival material on the history of the freedom movement, events around independence, departure of Lord Mountbatten from India and funeral of Gandhi, the spokesman said.