Sipajhar College and NTF Join Hands to Digitize Rare Assamese Literature

In a landmark step towards preserving Assam’s literary heritage, Sipajhar College and the Nanda Talukdar Foundation (NTF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today, aimed at digitizing rare and out-of-print literary works from the region.

The partnership focuses on safeguarding valuable manuscripts, books, and journals by local authors, making them accessible to students, researchers, and the public through NTF’s flagship initiative, Digitizing Assam. The program, which has already digitized over 2.5 million pages of Assamese literature, seeks to create one of the largest searchable archives of the state’s literary and cultural treasures.

A special emphasis of the collaboration is on Darangi Kala-Kristi, the unique cultural and artistic tradition of the Darrang region. Many works documenting this heritage are fragile, scattered, or nearly lost, and the project aims to preserve, digitize, and make them widely accessible for future generations.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Principal Dr. Satyendra Kumar Sharma described the MoU as “a historic step towards preserving the literary wealth of Sipajhar and its surrounding areas.” Librarian Dr. Nirmali Chakravorty, inaugurating the event, and other speakers highlighted how including Sipajhar’s literary treasures in the Digitizing Assam movement will strengthen statewide efforts to rescue endangered texts and make Assamese literature globally visible.

The initiative promises a lasting impact:

Rare and forgotten literature will be preserved and brought back to life.

Researchers, both in India and abroad, will gain digital access to otherwise unavailable texts.

The project will open new avenues in digital humanities, archiving, and cultural studies.

Young people will rediscover their regional roots through modern technology.

By bringing local literature, cultural identity, and heritage into the digital realm, the Sipajhar–NTF partnership is poised to serve as a model for other institutions in Assam and beyond seeking to preserve and promote regional literary treasures.

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