NAI, C-DAC to undertake digital preservation of govt records

PUNE: In an important futuristic project, aimed at preserving electronic public records generated through e-governance initiatives of the Central government, the city-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing ( C-DAC), has signed an MoU with the National Archives of India ( NAI), New Delhi, for development of an applicable software for the purpose.

This MoU has been signed as part of the project of ' Centre of Excellence for Digital Preservation' sanctioned by the Department of Information Technology, MCIT, Government of India. This project will be handled by Human-Centred Design and Computing (HCDC) Group of C-DAC, which specialises in digital preservation and archival, according to Dinesh Katre, Associate director, HCDC group here.

Elaborating on the project, he said, "Our endeavor would be to equip NAI for preserving the electronic records produced through various e-governance initiatives. Digital preservation is the need of the future but we have to start preparing from today itself as the enormous amount of digital information produced in every field is threatened due to rapidly changing technologies and obsolescence of storage devices, file formats, hardware and software. The implementation of the MoU will enable the NAI to develop the technical capabilities for digital preservation and acceptance of records."

As part of the ambitious project, funded by Department of Information Technology, C-DAC and NAI have jointly set up a Centre for excellence for digital presevation (CEDP) here to create a machinery to archive the electronic public records of the government.

"This project, after completion of its first three year phase, will benefit the common people with an enhanced accessibility and retrieval of public records, and also help those who seek information under the RTI act," Katre told PTI.