New Delhi: The government will launch an e-version of the collected works of Mahatma Gandhi on September 8 to make his writings available to the world on a digital platform according to a report in India Today.
Officials of the information and broadcasting ministry said that the September 8 event would mark the formal launch of the e-version of the 100 volumes of collected works of Mahatma Gandhi in the form of DVDs. All the data will be uplinked on the Gandhi Heritage Portal.
Gandhi’s writings, scattered all over the world, have been collected and constructed with stringent academic discipline as part of the project. It is called ‘The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi’, named after original series whose chief architect was Prof. K Swaminathan. It has taken about 38 years in the making (1956-1994) and runs into over 55,000 pages.
Each word has been put on the digital version carefully. A lot of scholars and experts have been eagerly awaiting for the release of the digital project as it will provide an international window to those interested in Gandhi’s writings, including books and articles published in various periodicals.
The e-project has been executed by the publications division of the information and broadcasting ministry with support from Gujarat Vidyapith based in Ahmedabad. It was supervised by a three-member committee of experts on Gandhi comprising Prof Sudershan Iyengar, former vicechancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, Dinaben Patel, an eminent Gandhian scholar and Tridip Suhrud, director Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust, over the past four years. Gujarat Vidyapith is a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920 as part of the Non Cooperation Movement.
Officials said the e-version is a first step towards digitisation of the vast resources available with the ministry on eminent persons who have a global branding and recall. In a way, the move will also help the government spread India’s soft power abroad, they said.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, who will launch the e-version along with his deputy Rajyavardhan Rathore. Jaitley had mentioned about the Gandhi e-project in the Rajya Sabha on March 10 highlighting the intrinsic worth of the dossier. The Gandhi Peace Foundation is hosting the event on Tuesday.
