The Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gangapuram Kishan Reddy visited National Archives of India, Janpath, New Delhi today along with Union MoS for Culture Meenakshi Lekhi and took stock of record management, preservation & digitalization activities in the presence of Secretary of Ministry of Culture, Shri Raghvendra Singh, and Director General of National Archives of India, Shri Chandan Sinha, and other officials.The Minister visited the Research Room, Old repository, Preservation Room, Old Building of Archives etc. and said that he had the opportunity to behold one of the richest and exquisite collections of the Govt of India’s non-current records, which stands testament to India’s glorious history and culture.Sh. Reddy said that National archives is one of the largest and prestigious centres of archives in the world and holds records of 800 million pages, as well as 5.7 million files, and 1.2 lakh maps among others. It is important to preserve this record for future generations , he said . Sh Reddy appreciated the preservation work of the important agreements of the Government of India, foreign treaties and documents related to the personality and work of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi and documents pertaining to Buddhist culture which has also been done well by National Archives.Shri Reddy further said that the work of digitization of these records is taking place and in the context of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' being celebrated to commemorate 75 years of independence, the work will be speeded up . This is a mega project so that the people of the country and the world can easily access the archival material which will be available on the records portal. This will be of educational value as well contribute to awareness generation, he added.The Minister further explained that in view of celebration of Amrit Mahotsav, there is a proposal to digitise the records pertaining to the life, struggle and strife of our freedom fighters on a priority basis so that the coming generations will know of their sacrifices made for the freedom of the country.In his interaction with media, the Minister assured that the government is custodian of all records at the National Archives and would ensure their complete safety during the Central Vista redevelopment project.The National Archives of India is the repository of the non-current records of the Government of India and is holding them in trust for the use of administrators and scholars.