The Hindu 17.07.2009
Vellore District Gazetteer may be released by 2011
Special Correspondent
| The first one prepared during the British regime |
Ramesh Kumar Khanna, Principal Secretary and Commissioner of Archives and Historical Research (centre) and C. Rajendran, Collector of Vellore (right), at a meeting of officials and scholars held in connection with the preparation of the District Gazetteer at the Collectorate in Vellore on Thursday.
VELLORE: The first District Gazetteer for Vellore district, after 1881, is likely to be released by 2011, according to Ramesh Kumar Khanna, Principal Secretary and Commissioner of Archives and Historical Research and C. Rajendran, Collector of Vellore.
Talking to newspersons after holding a meeting with government officials and Tamil, English and history scholars in connection with the preparation of the District Gazetteer at the Collectorate here on Thursday, Mr. Ramesh Kumar Khanna and Mr. Rajendran said that the first District Gazetteer (then known as District Manual) for the undivided North Arcot district was prepared by Arthur during the British regime in 1881. The manual was revised by Stuart in 1895. Since then, the district has not had a gazetteer.
The Commissioner of Archives and Historical Research said that Vellore would be the 17th district in Tamil Nadu to have a District Gazetteer. Fifteen districts, which already have gazetteers, are Thanjavur, Madurai, undivided South Arcot, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Pudukottai, Dharmapuri, Kanyakumari, Nilgiris, Tiruchi, Karur, Pernambalur, Chengalpattu, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin. Work on the District Gazetteer for Erode district is being finalised, and the gazetteer is likely to be released by this year-end. After the release of the Vellore District Gazetteer, work would be taken up on the preparation of a gazetteer for Tiruvannamalai district.
Mr. Ramesh Kumar Khanna said that the District Gazetteer for Vellore is likely to have 19 chapters covering the social, socio-cultural and economic developments of the district. The Vellore District Gazetteer would be published simultaneously in both Tamil and English. The usual practice is to publish a District Gazetteer in English and later translate it into Tamil. Normally, the government would print 1000 copies of the District Gazetteer for each district, he said.