Sir,
This refers to the news item ‘Priya inaugurates workshop on Conservation of Manuscripts’ (DE, Feb22, 2017).It is heartening to read that Minister of State for Culture and Tourism, Priya Sethi inaugurated a five day workshop-cum-exhibition regarding ‘Preservative Conservation of Manuscripts’ at Kala Kendra in Jammu.There is no doubt that our artefacts and manuscripts of the past are our priceless heritage having great historical value.They help us a lot to understand our past and know more about our glorious culture and history.But these books and manuscripts are vulnerable to destruction due to moisture, worms,vermin etc.in due course of time.Thus, the preservation and conservation of such manuscripts and books is a task which should be given due importance.The organisation of such workshops will help a lot in creating awareness in the people regarding the importance and preservation methods and techniques of Manuscript conservation.The fact that rare calligraphic specimens, Thangkas, manuscripts and paintings will be displayed at the exhibition, will prove helpful in arousing interest in the general public and motivating them to go in for conserving valuable manuscripts in a proper manner. All those Ministries/ Departments/organisations associated with the conservation of manuscripts and other historical documents, such as Union Ministry of Culture,Department of Archives, Archaeology&Museums, INTACH etc.ought to organise such workshops and exhibitions at district and block level to aware people about our valuable heritage so that they can appreciate it.Moreover, conservation of manuscripts and artetfacts should be included as a topic in the school curriculum to foster interest in the students at a young age about our valuable manuscripts and ways to conserve them.Libraries must prominently display such historical documents, books and rare manuscript written on parchment, leather, paper etc.to attract the attention of readers and infuse interest in them for preserving them.
Yours etc…..
Ashok Sharma,
Udhampur.
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