A slew of publications, including on the colonial-era peasant agitation and the famous 1974 student movement spearheaded by firebrand leader Jaiprakash Narayan that led to the imposition of Emergency will soon be released by the Bihar State Archives.
"We have lined up a number of publications on various subjects of historical significance and used our archival records for them. A five-volume book each on the 1974 JP movement and 'Kisan Aandolan' are the major ones.
"One of the volumes on the 1974 agitation also contains several old pictures, newspaper clippings, cartoons, among other material published during that era. It includes rare photographs showing 'JP' being lathicharged during a stir," BSA Director Vijoy Kumar told PTI.
He said work on these publications had been going on for over a year and now "we are waiting for a suitable date for their release, preferably by the chief minister."
"The book on the JP movement has been authored by a researcher who himself was part of the movement, so the account is also first-hand and the five volumes try to paint a picture of that period, which continues to haunt people's imagination," Kumar said.
For archival material, he said, besides looking into "our own records, we also approached people who were part of the movement and they shared the photographs and clippings with us."
The student movement which started in Patna soon spread to other parts and 'JP' as the veteran leader was fondly called, took the movement to Delhi. The transition of the massive stir from Patna's Gandhi Maidan to Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, dubbed the 'Total Revolution' or 'Sampoorna Kranti', threated to shake the Indira Gandhi government which imposed the Emergency on June 25, 1975.
"The other five-volume work is on the British-era 'Kisan Aandolan' and covers the period from 1920s to 1947," he said.
Rare documents and images, including a graphic depiction of the hanging of Bhagat Singh and his two aides Rajguru and Sukhdev, which were banned during the colonial-era were published by BSA last year in three huge volumes besides a book on Subhash Chandra Bose with material drawn from the local archive.
"The other publications awaiting release this year include a volume on Shilbhadra Yagni, who was an associate of Netaji, one on famous Hindi author Rambriksh Benipuri and a volume each on former Congress leaders and Bihar ministers Jaglal Choudhary and Ram Charitra Singh," Kumar said.
"Previous writings of the late N M P Srivastava, author of the 'History of Searchlight', which were proscribed during the colonial rule have also been published in a book. Besides, we will release our annual 'Abhilekh Bihar' journal for the year 2015-16," he said.
Incidentally, Bihar government is currently celebrating the centenary year of the first arrival of Mahatma Gandhi in Bihar which will culminate on April 10, 2017.
"Since, we are marking Gandhi's first arrival in Patna and the centenary of his Satyagraha in Champaran, we are contemplating research publications on that subject too," the BSA director said.
Besides, publishing books, the state archive has also
been undertaking digitisation work of its old records for the past several years.
"Starting with the oldest records, we have digitised over 10 lakh folios and work is still going on. Some of the documents are very fragile and so we are taking due care," BSA director Kumar said.
The Bihar State Archives which currently sits in its own building on Bailey Road began its journey from the Patna Secretariat where it was housed in the Record Room there. After independence, the records were moved to its separate building.
"Besides, digitising our work, we are also in talks with NIC (National Informatics Centre) for developing our own website. Currently, we are linked with the Cabinet homepage," he said.
The director said, as part of its calendar of activities for this year, several lectures are also lined up.
"Five memorial lectures named after eminent people -- K K Datta, R S Sharma, D P Mishra, S H Askari and Vijay Thakur - will be held this year," he said.
