Exhibition on the “Documentary Heritage of Reserve Bank of India”

In order to create awareness about the rich archival documents available in RBI Archives that relate to the history of RBI as well as the country’s financial and economic history, the RBI Archives, Pune organised an exhibition on the “Documentary Heritage of Reserve Bank of India” at the 73^rd Session of the Indian History Congress at the University of Mumbai, Kalina Campus, Mumbai during December 28-30, 2012.  About 50 pages of selected documents from the RBI Archives covering the period from 1935-1999 including photographs of all Governors of RBI were displayed in the Exhibition.

The 73^rd Session of the Indian History Congress was inaugurated by His Excellency Shri K. Sankaranarayanan, Governor of Maharastra on December 28, 2012. Addressing a large gathering of historians the Governor observed that history is the universal teacher of mankind. It is a multi-faceted discipline and its subject matter is all that human beings have said, done and thought.  He further stressed that the rulers must remain alive and sensitive to the basic needs and developmental aspirations of the poor, the downtrodden and the socio-economically backward sections of society. The History Congress was attended by about 2500 delegates from different parts of the country and abroad. 

The RBI Archives exhibition evoked good response and was visited by about 1800 visitors from University, College teachers, academicians and research students from across the country. Some of dignitaries who visited the stall included Professor Irfan Habib, Historian from Aligarh Muslim University, Prof. S.Z.H. Jafri, Professor of History, University of Delhi & Secretary, Indian History Congress, Shri B.M. Mishra, Officer-in Charge, Department of Economic and Policy Research, RBI, Central Office, Smt. Gunjeet Kaur, Director, History Cell, RBI, and Shri R.L. Sharma, Vice Principal, College of Agricultural Banking, Pune.

The officers from RBI Archives, i.e. Dr. R.L. Sahoo, Chief Archivist, Shri Ravi Kiran Pala, Archivist, Dr. Savesh Singh, Assistant Chemist and Smt. D.D. Saraf, Assistant Manager, managed the exhibition stall and distributed exhibition brochures to the visitors. RBI Archives team received guidance from Smt. Meena Hemachandra, Chief General Manager and Principal, CAB in making the exhibition a grand success.