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Welcome to Portal of the South and West Asian Regional Branch of International Council on Archives (SWARBICA) - Trail Version -

Proceedings of the Second Meeting of SWARBICA Executive Board

6 April 1978, Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir)

The second meeting of the Executive Board of SWARBJCA was held at Hotel Nedou's, Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir State) on Thursday, the 6th April 1978 at 9.30 a.m. The following members were present:

Mr. Cyrus Parham                 Chairman

Mr. Hedayatullah Akram       National Member from Afghanistan

Dr. S. N. Prasad                   National Member from India

Dr. Shaphalya Amatya                       National Member from Nepal

Dr. N.H. Kulkarnee               Secretary-General

Mr. Ranbir Kishore               Treasurer

Owing to changes in flight schedule the Chairman's arrival in Srinagar was delayed till 11 a.m. till then Dr. Amatya, who was unanimously voted to the Chair, conducted the meeting. Mr. A. Dewaraja, Vice-Chairman, who could not attend the meeting had sent in advance his apologies and good wishes for the success of the meeting.

National Members from Bangladesh (Dr. K. M. Karim) and Pakistan (Mr. Atique Zafar Sheikh) could not attend the meeting for some reason. Mr. F. M. Hasnain, Director, State Archives Department (Jammu and Kashmir Government) and Dr. Mohammad Ishaq Khan, Lecturer in History, Kashmir University, were invited to attend the meeting as Observers.

The Board was informed of the gracious reply sent by the President of ICA to the Secretary-General's invitation, in which Dr. J. B. Rhoads regretted his inability to attend the SWARBICA Board meeting and stated that Dr. Prasad, as Vice-President, would be representing him. Dr. Prasad expressed to the Board the appreciation of the ICA at the excellent beginning made by SWARBICA, and good wishes for the future.

The Chairman accepted the good wishes sent by the Vice-Chairman and requested the Secretary-General to convey the thanks of the Board to the Vice-Chairman. He then opened the meeting and welcomed the new National Member, Mr. Hedayatullah Akram. Mr. Akram made a brief statement stressing the importance of SWARBICA and Afghanistan's readiness to extend the fullest cooperation to it.

The draft Agenda was unanimously adopted.

Conspectus of Action on 1st Meeting

The Secretary-General then read out the conspectus of action taken on the decisions reached and directives issued at the first meeting of the Executive Board (New Delhi, 11-12 December 1976). The Board approved the report of action taken so far, subject to the alteration that comments on training requirements be deleted.

Annual Report

The Secretary General thereafter read out the annual report of the Branch from December 10, 1976 to 31 March 1978, and it was approved by the Board. (Other decisions of the Board in respect of certain subjects in the Report have been included under relevant headings.)

Membership

The Board noted with satisfaction the National Membership of Pakistan and Afghanistan and approved Institutional Membership of the State Archives of Delhi. Haryana and Sikkim and Bundelkhand University, and Individual Membership of Dr. Jagdish Raj, Mrs. Mani Kamerkar, Prof. D. Awasthi, Dr. Y. B. Mathur and Mr. K. D. Gupta (formerly Asst. Director in National Archives of India).

The Board members decided to launch an enrolment drive in their respective countries with the assistance of the Secretary-General. They also decided to depute the Secretary-General to the forthcoming Aurangabad session of the Indian Historical Records Commission for this purpose. The Secretary-General was directed to devise a proper membership form. It was decided not to appoint any Honorary Members at present. The Board expressed satisfaction that the Director of Jammu and Kashmir Archives has approached his Government for institutional membership of SWARBICA.

Subscription Rates

The Board decided to maintain the present annual rate of individual (Indian Rs. 100/-) and National (Indian Rs. 3000/-) membership.

Pilot Project on Guide to Sources of Asian History and Culture

Dr. Prasad informed the Board that this study completed by Mr. K. D. Gupta for SWARBICA, was highly appreciated at the recent ICA Bureau meeting, which he had attended in his capacity as ICA Vice-President. The Board was equally appreciative of this study and suggested its publication in parts in SWARBICA Journal. The Secretary-General was requested to seek necessary permission from UNESCO.

Colombo Seminar and Other Meetings

The Board thereafter took up discussion on item 5 of the Agenda, deferring item 4 and subsequent items to post-lunch session. The Secretary-General read out relevant parts of the letter from Vice-Chairman, Mr. Dewaraja. The Board expressed satisfaction at the host's efforts towards arranging the meetings and agreed to hold the symposium in the last week of January 1979 as desired by him, but decided not to postpone it any further. Dr. Prasad informed the Board that in response to the Chairman's cable the ICA Bureau had suggested a fresh application requesting for only 6000 U.S. dollars assistance for holding the General Conference at Colombo. In view of such limited funds the Board decided to pay full travel costs only of all National Members, of Mr. R.C. Gupta (Deputy Director, National Archives of India) entrusted with the working paper for the Symposium, and of the Secretary-General and the Treasurer. It was left to the National Members to persuade their respective governments to pay travel costs of alternate delegates of their choice who could be their deputies, training experts, scholars, historians or administrators. If funds were available the Chairman would nominate a representative of users of archives in the region who would be invited with full payment of travel costs. The Board agreed to provide local hospitality but not travel costs to the following invitees to the symposium:

(a) President J. B. Rhoads, or his nominee,

(b) Representatives of all sister branches,

(c) Representative of ICA Committee on Training,

(d) Dr. Morris Rieger, Chairman of CAD and Dr. Frank Evans of UNESCO,

(e) Miss D.G. Keswani and Mr. A. Bousso respectively of Ghana and Dakar regional training schools, and

(f) Dr. E. Franz, of Darmstadt.

While appreciative of the consideration shown by ICA in responding to the request for financial assistance Members hoped that a marginal increase in this subvention would be possible if necessary. It was decided that the ICA cheque should be made out in the name of Mr. Dewaraja, the host, but passed on to him through SWARBICA Secretariat.

The Secretary-General was directed to prepare the schedules, programmes and all other arrangements in consultation with the host and with the approval of the Chairman.

The Board reassembled at 2.30 p.m. after lunch and took up the remaining items of the Agenda.

SWARBICA Newsletter and Journal

The Board decided to continue for the time being the informal arrangement of the Secretary-General editing the journal with the assistance of Mr. K.D. Gupta. They decided to offer a token honorarium of Indian Rs. 100/- per issue for Mr. Gupta's kind assistance. The Board agreed that the News-Bulletin might be brought out only if news items happened to be so urgent and important that their publication could not be postponed till the journal came out. The Board recorded its appreciation of the first issue. The members decided to send their comments in writing later on.

Relationship with ICA

The Board agreed that the existing relationship should continue and decided to observe only provisions in ICA's amended constitution regarding its Branches. The Branch Treasurer need not collect ICA dues for them, nor need the ICA Treasurer bill the member-countries for SWARBICA dues, at least for the present.

Regional Projects

 (a) Regional Reprography Demonstration Centre

Dr. Prasad reported the steps already taken to enlarge the reprography facilities at the National Archives of India, and he hoped that the Demonstration Centre could be formally opened there without seeking financial assistance from ICA or UNESCO, which could be reserved for other SWARBICA projects. After some discussion the Board approved selling up the Centre at New Delhi as a part of the Institute of Archival Training already functioning there.

(b) Fact-Finding Mission

The Board felt that the Secretary-General should visit all the member-countries of the Region, but make a beginning with Pakistan and Bangladesh, and authorised the Secretary-General to approach ICA for travel funds. On the suggestion of Dr. Amatya and Mr. Akram it was decided to call it as a 'liaison mission.'

(c) Survey Committees

The Chairman pointed out that government records had to be kept out of the purview of such committees. The National Members could appoint small committees for surveying records in private custody only. The members agreed to explore the possibility of financing the travel allowances etc. of one member of the committee in their country by their own government and to seek CAD assistance for other members of such committees.

(d) Basic Archival Terminology for the Region

The Board felt that such a scheme could be undertaken only after the results of ICA's own similar scheme were known.

National Projects

(a) After some discussion on Nepal's projects, the Board decided that the Secretary-General should seek such clarification and additional information as might be necessary by correspondence with the National Members for proper filling up of CAD forms, without which the proposals could not be processed by CAD.

(b) The Board agreed that CAD's Summary Project Description Forms might be sent to institutional members.

(c) The Board agreed that National and Institutional Members should send their development plans for publication in SWARBICA journal, whenever possible.

Treasurer's Report and Interim Budget for 1978

The Board approved the Treasurer's report for December 1976-March 1978, subject to the proviso that expenditure earmarked for a 2nd meeting of the Executive Board be deleted, as such a meeting was not possible in 1978.

Accommodation for SWARBICA Secretariat

The Board felt that since renting accommodation etc., was not involved, any problem in this connection might be settled by the National Member from India.

Secretariat Expenses

The Board decided that henceforth the postage charges should be paid out of SWARBICA funds.

Expenses of Board Meetings

The Board Members felt that if the limits of local hospitality were specified in the invitation letters the National Members could approach their governments for expenses not covered by SWARBICA funds. The Secretary-General agreed to arrange the future programme schedules in a manner suited for this purpose.

Archives Week

The Board was informed that India was observing Archives Week from this year onwards, hoping to make it an annual feature. The Secretary-General would inform the National Members in due course about this subject.

Turkey's Membership of SWARBICA

The Chairman informed the Board that he would invite Turkey to join SWARBICA, if possible, after that country's formal membership of ICA was approved.

Afghan Trainees

Mr. Akram enquired from the Chairman whether Iran could give facilities for a couple of Afghan trainees in archives keeping, since their common language made training in Iran very attractive. The Chairman informed Mr. Akram that it was possible. Mr. Akram was requested to formulate this into a National Project for possible assistance by CAD.

Venue of next Board Meeting

The Board decided to hold its next meeting at Colombo in late January 1979, prior

to the General Conference.

The members expressed their appreciation of the exceUent arrangements made at Srinagar, and requested the Secretary-General to convey their sentiments to Mr. Hasoain and Dr. Khan, particularly for the Press and radio coverage of the Board meeting.