UP restoring 19th century Indian immigration records

Lucknow, June 1 : This may come as a sweet bit of information for the Indian diaspora settled in Fiji, Mauritius and some African countries, seeking to trace their roots.

Uttar Pradesh State Archives (UPSA) is restoring the 19th century official records detailing immigration of labourers from the United Province (that corresponds to modern day UP) to these nations.

Pertaining to British India era, the records are a treasure trove of information for the diaspora seeking to rediscover the roots of their ancestors.

UPSA director Rekha Trivedi told UNI here today, the records were in a bad shape and needed urgent measures for preservation.

The British empire, which had colonies all over the world, used to source cheap and hardworking Indian labour to work in the fields in other countries.

Over generations, the Indians have become economically, socially and politically well established in these lands and are more prosperous than the aboriginals.

''The immigration records detail the name of people along with their parentage, native place, age, date of journey, name of ship and offical authorisation of their employment abroad,'' she added.

Ms Trivedi said the Indian diaspora, with have roots in UP, can find their native places with the help of these records -- available in English.

To begin with, the old records are being manually copied so as to protect the details before the actual restoration process rolls on.

''There are several ways to preserve them, including lamination and treatment with chemicals,'' she informed.

UPSA, which functions under the department of culture, has about 4 lakh old files of archival interest under its safe custody. It also has 16,000 manuscripts, some as old as that of 7th century AD.

''UPSA has a rare 'farman' (edict) of Sher Shah Suri dating back to 1540 AD,'' Ms Trivedi added.

''We are also associated with the 'Rashtriya Pandulipi Mission' (National Manuscript Mission) of the Centre. The programme is underway in 12 UP districts including Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Pratapgarh, Sultanpur and Faizabad.'' To create awareness among the masses towards Indian heritage and cultural properties, the State Archives regularly organises events such as workshops and training camps.

Recently, UPSA in association with Lucknow University, organised a four-day workshop on 'Preservation of Manuscripts and Records&Archival Exhibition' here.

Lucknow-based National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC) was also part of the event, that comprised training and a series of lectures on the topic.

UNI