Digital Portal Planned to Provide Online Access to Himachal’s Heritage

Himachal Pradesh is set to launch an advanced digital archive portal following the successful digitisation of 1.7 million rare archival pages. Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri revealed that the portal, to be developed in collaboration with the state IT department, will host the complete searchable database created during the first phase of the project.

The portal will grant seamless online access to more than 30,000 historic records dating after 1807, along with rare books, gazetteers, settlement reports and valuable manuscripts. Researchers from across India and foreign scholars will be able to retrieve documents without the need to travel to Shimla’s physical archives.

Parallel to this, the National Manuscript Survey, part of the "Gyan Bharat Mission," continues to identify and document ancient manuscripts in Himachal. Those manuscripts, once digitised at the Himachal State Museum’s cluster centre, will also be stored securely within the new digital platform.

Agnihotri highlighted that the portal will not only protect fragile originals from wear and tear but also serve educators, students, historians and the general public, fostering a deeper understanding of the state’s rich cultural legacy.