Why in news?
During his April 2026 radio address, the Prime Minister urged citizens to visit the Abhilekh Patal portal to discover India’s rich archival heritage. The call came as the National Archives of India reached a milestone of digitising more than 20 crore pages and uploading them onto the platform.
Background
The National Archives of India (NAI), established in 1891 as the Imperial Record Department, is the custodian of non‑current government records. In Sanskrit, abhilekh means record and patal means board or platform. Therefore, Abhilekh Patal stands for “portal for access to archives and learning”. It is a web‑based repository allowing researchers, students and the general public to search and view digitised documents from anywhere.
Features of Abhilekh Patal
- Extensive collection: The portal hosts millions of scanned pages, including government files, private papers of eminent Indians, rare photographs, maps and manuscripts. Digitisation began years ago but gained momentum in 2024, and around 60 % of the NAI’s collection has been digitised.
- User interface: Visitors can search by keyword, subject or time period. High‑resolution images can be zoomed and downloaded for personal study. The site is regularly updated with newly scanned materials.
- Accessibility: By placing archives online, NAI reduces the need for physical visits and enhances transparency. Researchers abroad can access documents without travelling to New Delhi.
- Institutional outreach: The portal fosters collaboration with universities and archives worldwide, encouraging scholarship on India’s past and facilitating translation and annotation projects.
Progress in digitisation
As of 2026, more than 20 crore pages out of the NAI’s estimated 34 crore pages have been scanned and uploaded. Youth volunteers and modern scanners stationed at record centres in New Delhi, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Puducherry expedite the work. The government aims to digitise about 30 crore pages by 2026, ensuring that rare documents—from the Mountbatten Plan to declassified Cabinet notes—are preserved digitally for future generations.
Sources: DD News
