By TCN News,
Bhopal: The 102nd five-day orientation course in records management for Departmental Record Officers [DROs], was inaugurated here at the Regional Office of the National Archives of India (NAI), on Monday.
Senior journalist Mr. Syed Pervez Bari was the chief guest for the inaugural function. He presented a paper on Record Management and discussed at depth on the importance of records, its documentation and various techniques of preservation. Orientation Course Coordinator Mrs. P Sinha and Assistant Director Syed Fareed Ahmad from the NAI Headquarters in New Delhi, Archivist Mr. V K Juneja Office in-charge of the Regional Office of NAI at Bhopal and Archivist Mr. Muzaffar-e-Islam were present at the inaugural function.
Archivist V. K. Juneja speaking at the inaugural function of the orientation course in Record Management
The Orientation Course is organised on a yearly basis by the National Archives of India at the Delhi Office and its other Regional Centres for DROs of different Ministries / Departments. The Orientation Course here is attended by more than one-and-a-half dozen delegates from the Central Government Departments and Public Sector Undertakings. Senior faculties from NAI, New Delhi Mr. Syed Fareed Ahmad, Mrs. P Sinha, Microphotograph expert Mr. A K Jain and Assistant Director Mr. Ram Swaroop were here to deliver lectures on different aspects of Record Management.
Presenting his paper on Record Management, Mr. Pervez Bari said that National Archives of India is playing a major and vital role in preserving the records created over centuries, decades and years gone by for posterity. It helps the new upcoming generation to sift through the archival records of the gone by eras to learn and to be cautious of the pitfalls encountered by their forefathers, he added.
He emphasised that the creation of correct statistics, information, documentation and their proper maintenance all go a long way on formulation of good policies and planning. The implementation of these policies in turn becomes torch-bearer of good governance. He said incorrect and inaccurate records and information have led to policy failures and heavy financial losses to the government’s exchequer. He said records are integral part of any organization and being the wheels of administration they could ensure an efficient administration.
He lamented that the state government departments lack seriousness in maintaining records systematically whereas the Central Government Departments are far efficient in that aspect. He warned that in the present mobile phone age many orders and instructions are passed on phones by officers to their subordinates which if not recorded could harm the future generations as they would not know how to go about in particular situations. He said if these past records are available then it would guide them accordingly.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Fareed Ahmad said the fundamental purpose of imparting this training for the DROs is basically to highlight not only its importance and utility but also to illustrate and imbibe this spirit of a true archivist or DRO. The series of lectures on various aspects of the Record Management by the learned speakers and faculty members who are well versed in this field will be helpful in clarifying the intricacies, he said.
He moaned that Records Management is often misunderstood as an unnecessary or low priority administrative task that can be performed at the lowest levels within an organization and as a result of such misapprehensions they are not properly maintained. This is because there is no punitive clause in the Public Records Act, 1993 & the Public Records Rules, 1997. He informed that, now in the post RTI era the Central Government has decided to take a fresh look and have constituted a Panel in February, 2009 to review and amend the Public Records Act & Rules by which there are moves to add punitive clause in the rules to instil fear in the erring DROs.
Earlier, Mr. V K Juneja while welcoming the guests and delegates threw light on the aims and objectives of the Orientation Course. Archivist Mr. Muzaffar-e-Islam proposed a vote of thanks and conducted the proceedings with aplomb.