Lok Sabha Question No. 5865 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-30
Subject: Infrastructure and Structural Deterioration at Asiatic Society
Ministry: CULTURE
Asked by: Shri Jagannath Sarkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5865 ANSWERED ON 30.03.2026

## INFRASTRUCTURE AND STRUCTURAL DETERIORATION AT ASIATIC SOCIETY

## 5865.  SHRI JAGANNATH SARKAR:

Will the Minister of CULTURE be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether the Government is aware of ageing infrastructure and structural deterioration at the Asiatic Society, affecting preservation due to inadequate temperature and humidity control;
- (b) the present status of conservation of rare manuscripts and artefacts, including the backlog in cataloguing and availability of trained conservators;
- (c) the  details  of  sanctioned  strength,  working  strength  and  vacancies,  category  wise  of librarians,  archivists,  conservators  and  research  staff,  along  with  the  number  of  personnel engaged on contractual basis;
- (d) the  progress  and  timelines  for  digitisation  of  collections  and  improving  public  and scholarly access;
- (e) whether the funding provided is commensurate with the scale and international significance of the collections;
- (f) the details of steps taken by the Government to revive academic output, fellowships and international collaborations; and
- (g) whether adequate disaster preparedness measures are in place to protect collections from fire, flood and climate-related risks?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF CULTURE AND TOURISM (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

(a)  to  (c)  Asiatic  Society's  heritage  building  is  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and necessary steps for its repair and restoration are undertaken through ASI.  Adequate  temperature  and  humidity  control  system  are  in  place  in  Society's  Museum where manuscripts, rare books and artefacts are housed.

The Asiatic Society, Kolkata conducts regular checks on the conditions of the rare manuscripts and artefacts in its collection. Such checks are done by the cataloguers and other officials on regular  intervals  under  the  overall  supervision  of  the  Curator.  The  Society  has  its  own Conservation  and  Binding  Section  to  carry  out  the  conservation  and  binding  work.  Since establishing of Manuscript Conservation Centre in 2022, the preventive conservation of 35624 folios of the Manuscripts and curative conservation of 4596 folios of the rare manuscript have been done by the Society. Cataloguing is a regular work of the Museum and Archive Section.

The  details of sanctioned  strength, working  strength  and  vacancies,  category-wise  of librarians,  archivists,  conservators  and  research  staff,  along  with  the  number  of  personnel engaged on contractual basis:

|   Sl. No | Post                   |   Sanctioned Strength |   Working Strength |   Vacancies |
|----------|------------------------|-----------------------|--------------------|-------------|
|        1 | Librarian              |                     1 |                  1 |           0 |
|        2 | Assistant Librarian    |                     4 |                  1 |           3 |
|        3 | Curator                |                     1 |                  1 |           0 |
|        4 | Senior Cataloguer      |                     2 |                  0 |           2 |
|        5 | Cataloguer             |                     4 |                  2 |           2 |
|        6 | Conservation Officer   |                     1 |                  0 |           1 |
|        7 | Conservation Assistant |                     7 |                  0 |           7 |
|        8 | Research Officer       |                     1 |                  0 |           1 |

Two Conservation Assistants are working on temporary basis.

- (d) The society has digitized 11,528 manuscripts comprising 5,72,890 pages. Further, under the Gyan Bharatam Mission of Ministry, the Society has been designated as a Cluster Centre for Manuscript  scanning  work.  As  of  23.03.2026,  a  total  of  2033  manuscripts  comprising  of 1,46,099 pages have been scanned under this initiative.
- (e) The Grant-in-aid  provided  by  this  Ministry  to  Asiatic  Society  broadly  supports  its  core functions,  and  the  requirements  are  reviewed  from  time  to  time  in  view  of  the  scale  and preservation needs of its collections.
- (f) The  Society  undertakes  academic  activities,  including  seminars,  lectures,  workshops, exhibitions,  publications  and  fellowship  programmes  to  strengthen  academic  output  and expand  collaborations  with  national  and  international  institutions.  The  details  of  various Academic Activities undertaken by the organization are as under : -
- (g) The  Society  has  basic  disaster  preparedness  measures  in  place,  including  fire  safety system and standard operating procedures. Close liaison is maintained with the National Disaster Response  Force  (NDRF),  Fire  and  Emergency  Services  Department,  Government  of  West Bengal and the Local Police Authorities.

| Financial Year   |   No of Research Projects |   No of Research Fellows |   No of Academic Activities |
|------------------|---------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------------|
| 2020-21          |                        39 |                       20 |                          42 |
| 2021-22          |                        28 |                       13 |                          42 |
| 2022-23          |                        21 |                       09 |                          47 |
| 2023-24          |                        21 |                       14 |                          54 |
| 2024-25          |                        18 |                       12 |                          28 |

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