Goa carves out new department to acquire, preserve and digitise historical records

PANAJI: The state government on Tuesday created a new department dedicated to the acquisition, preservation and digitisation of records related to Goa's struggle for freedom and other manuscripts of historical importance. Chief minister Pramod Sawant said the department of Goa gazetteer and historical records, as it will be called, will help anyone wanting to conduct research in the state.
The cabinet approved the formation of the new department and also gave its go-ahead for the establishment of a Government Analytics Research Institute.
Until now, the Goa gazetteer, which was constituted in 1970, came under the department of education, art and culture.
While a gazetteer is essentially a geographical index or a geographical dictionary, its scope is much wider. It presents a comprehensive view of a place and its people. It describes the physical features of a region, relates its history and discusses the social, political and economic life of the people inhabiting it.
Although it is often mistaken to be the publisher of official gazettes - legal documents containing the text of new laws etc - the Goa gazetteer is actually a research-oriented agency that carries out academic research related to Goa's past and present. It was tasked with the preparation of the district and taluka gazetteers and was also engaged in translating Portuguese records pertaining to Goa's history.
A senior government official said that after Goa attained statehood in 1987, the Goa gazetteer editorial board was re-constituted and the executive editor was declared head of office.
"As there are no separate rules for the Goa gazetteer, it becomes difficult to substantiate its scope of work. Therefore, there is a requirement for the creation of a separate department under the Business of the Government of Goa (Allocation) Rules, 1987," the cabinet note stated.