As a Citizens’ Initiative, a civil society body, the Nagarik Mancha has been active since 1989.
Irrespective of our achievements or the lack of it, one aspect of this initiative has shown steady growth over the years – the collection of reports, books, journals, newsletters, action alerts, leaflets, pamphlets, paper clippings, reference books, non-book materials, original correspondence, emails, photographs, field notes, original case studies, photocopies of document from other libraries, etc. All these materials – on overlapping subjects and connected with our areas of activity kept streaming.
On the other hand there have been document inputs from individuals and organisations, which they have given with the expectation that these would be used. We had accepted such documents with grace expecting them to add value to our collection.
Keen activists, journalists and researchers periodically have been using this document collection. However we must admit that space constraints and the rate of accumulation with the passage of time, had paved the way for near chaos.
Be it data, information or knowledge – all such facets of a Resource Centre should ideally be for common cause, for common use. We feel that resources should not have boundaries – organisational, institutional, personal or for that matter local, national, and global. It should not remain a property of a person or a specific organisation. We dreamt of an independent and autonomous collective of civil society representatives to take charge of its health and growth. We would have loved to be a part of this initiative. We were prepared to become one of the first contributors to the Resource Centre, to be set up in a more spacious location.
It is not a brainchild – it is an abject necessity. Aiming for dissemination of information, whatever be its form or content, should be the hallmark of any pro-people, pro-change citizen’s initiative. Publishing volumes, booklets, pamphlets, newsletters, leaflets had been till now our prime avenue for dissemination. Now we need to open up the highway – a Resource Centre for sharing and disseminating data, information and knowledge.
The Resource Centre will have both primary and secondary documents. Users will be at the centre of all activities. It will be a growing organism soliciting and accepting documents from multifarious sources – both individual and collective. It is not desired, or will not be designed, to become another repository, an archive, a library or a documentation centre. It will someday become a resource-based hub of pro-people social activism.
Till then we aim to make a modest start by getting it barely functional!
We need your feedback and support.