Proceedings of the Fifth Meeting of SWARBICA Executive Board,
14-15th Jul.
1980,
MADRAS
The
Fifth Meeting of the Executive Board of SWARBICA was held at the Conference Hall
of Tamil Nadu Archives, Madras on 14th and 15th July, 1980 between 3-5 p.m., 10
a.m.-1 p.m. and 3-5 p.m.
The following members were present:
|
Mr. A. Dewaraja |
Chairman |
|
Dr. K.
M. Karim |
Vice-Chairman |
|
Dr. N.
H. Kulkarnee |
Secretary-General |
|
Mr. Ranbir Kishore |
Treasurer. |
Mr. S.
Singarajan, Director of Archives and Mrs. C. K. Griyali, Commissioner of
Archives of Tamil Nadu Archives which is an institutional member of SWARBICA,
Dr. Mrs. Sarada-Raju and Miss V. Lalitha individual membere of SWARBICA were
invited to attend the meeting as Observers.
The
regrets of Mr. Cyrus Parham (National Member) from Iran and Mr. Akram (National
Member) from Afghanistan to attend the meeting were conveyed to the Board. The
Board was also informed of Dr. Amatya's (National Member) from Nepal request for
postponment of the meeting which was not possible.
The
Chairman then opened the meeting and the draft agenda was unanimously adopted.
The Chairman extended a hearty welcome to Mr. S.A.I. Tirmizi, Director of
Archives, Government of India, as the National Member from India. Mr. Tirmizi
made a brief statement stressing the significant role that SWARBICA was required
to play in this Region and his intentions to tackle the various problems
concerning it and to strengthen the Branch.
The
Secretary General then read out the minutes of the Third and Fourth meetings of
the Board held at Colombo and Anuradhapura on
22nd and 26th January, 1979, respectively.
The
Chairman suggested the following addition to the minutes that excluding the cost
of SWARBICA dinner (Sri Lanka Rs. 9115/76) given at Colombo in the first General
Conference the rest of the balance amount of Sri Lanka Rs. 24546/30 (Sir Lanka
Rupees Twenty four Thousand five hundred forty six and cents thirty) rounded of
to Sri Lanka Rupees 25,000 in SWARBICA Colombo account may be credited to Sri
Lanka Government Account. The Board unanimously approved the addition as it had
already sanctioned the amount of Indian Rs. 18,000 to Sri Lanka Government as
its contribution towards the expenses at the First General Conference. The Board
requested the Chairman to take necessary steps for transfer of this amount to
Sri Lanka Government.
The
minutes were confirmed and it was agreed that in future the minutes o.' th3
Executive Board meetings be circulated to all the members present prior to
approval by the Chairman.
The
Secretary General presented his report for Feb- 1979 to June 1980. The Board
approved the report with the following changes; (i) The Secretary General should
formally assertain from the member-countries about their participation in the
Guide project and formation of National Guide Committees. (ii) Reference to the
Chairman on p. 3. of the
report should be deleted.
The
Board then took up discussion on arrangments for the next General Conference of
SWARBICA. Dr. Karim, Vice-Chairman, and Director of Bangladesh Archives welcomed
the proposal that Bangladesh would host the Second General Conference at Dhaka
subject to the formal approval by his Government. The Board requested Dr. Karim
to convey its gratitude to the Government of Bangladesh for this kind and
gracious invitation and intimate the Board of further progress in finalising the
arrangements for the Conference.
The
Board suggested the following guidelines in regard to the arrangements:
(a)
SWARBICA would contribute Indian Rs. 13,000/- towards the Conference
which would also include the cost
of a SWARBICA dinner.
(b)
Fully paid invitations might be extended to (i) all members of the
Executive Board including the Secretary-General and the Treasurer (ii) One
Archivist or one Historian from each member-country of SWARBICA as nominated by
the Government of that country and who would contribute a paper for the
Workshop, (iii) One expert familiar with the Region to be
nominated by the I. C. A. to guide the
Workshop.
(c)
Only local hospitality might be extended to representatives of I.C.A., UNESCO,
SWARBICA and ARBICA, all institutional and individual members who have cleared
up-to-date subscription dues as on 31 December, 1979. In all 40 persons were
expected to attend the meetings.
(d)
The Programme would consist of a two-day workshop on Archival needs of the
region, one day General Conference, one day inauguration and meetings of the
out-going and incoming Board and one day for excursion. It was tentatively
decided to hold Workshop and attendant meetings in the last week of January
1981.
(e)
The Committee/Commission on Archival Development or the UNESCO
might be approached by the Chairman of SWARBICA for
contribution towards paid invitations.
(f) The last date for receipt of papers for the Workshop might
be fixed at 15th November, 1980.
Committee on Archival Developments
The
Secretary-General informed the Board of the transformation of CAD as proposed by
the ICA Bureau. The Board decided that should the old structure of CAD continue
SWARBICA might be represented on it either by its Chairman or such other member
of the Executive Board as might be nominated by him as Regional Rapporteur.
The
Secretary-General promised to send again to CAD Chairman the National and
Regional Projects formulated earlier.
Membership
The
Board reiterated its resolve to enrol institutional and individual members from
member countries other than India. So far as Pakistan was concerned the
Secretary-General was directed to secure the good offices of ICA for the
subscription, and the Chairman agreed to write to the Director of Pakistan
Archives for the same. It was decided to approach Bhutan and Burma for enrolment
as National members.
Subscription Rates
The Board decided to maintain the present annual rates of individual (Indian Rs.
100/-) and National (Indian Rs. 3000/-) membership.
Treasurer's Report
The Board approved the Treasurer's Report for the year ending 31st
December, 1979 and the proposed budget for 1980.
The Chairman also placed a statement of account relating to the fund
position in Colombo account (with People's Bank) which was approved by the
Board.
SWARBICA Journal
To relieve Secretary-General of some of his work Dr. Karim, undertook the
responsibility for editing the future issues of the Journal. It was decided to
restrict the edition to 300 copies for issue, and to transfer the ICA subsidy
for the same to Dr. Karim.
Constitutional Amendment
The Board suggested that the Constitution might be amended so as to
specify participation of institutional members in the deliberations of the
General Conference and the special programme.
Tamil
Nadu Archives
The Board decided to forward the proposals of Mr. Singarajan, Director of
Tamil Nadu Archives regarding the urgent needs of that Archives for
consideration of CAD.
The Treasurer and Secretary-General expressed a desire to be relieved
from their offices in view of their other pre-occupations and for reasons of
health. The National member from India, Mr. Tirmizi observed that in order to
instil a sense of participation in other member countries it seemed desirable
that the offices of Treasurer and Secretary-General be located in different
countries. However, as the next election was due at Dhaka it was felt that the
present arrangement might continue till then.
The members expressed their appreciation of the excellent arrangements
made by the Government of Tamil Nadu in hosting the meeting as a part of the
proposed Tricentenary Celebrations of Fort St George Records and gratitude for
their warm hospitality. Mr. Singarajan was requested to convey the sentiments of
the Board to the concerned authorities of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The
Secretary-General was also requested to convey the Board's appreciation and
gratitude to the Government of Tamil Nadu.
