People's Democracy

  SVK: Expanding Its Sphere Of Activities

SUNDARAYYA Vignana Kendram came into being in 1988, following the death of the former general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Comrade Putchalapalli Sundarayya, on May 19, 1985, to carry forward his ideals, as decided by the Party and the people. It is being managed by a registered non-profit Trust with public donations, which are exempted from income tax under 80G. 

In 1988, a research library and cultural heritage centre were established in the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram. Since then the Kendram has been working relentlessly to create secular and cultural space in the society.  The main objectives of the Kendram are to provide the members of the public facilities for study and research into (a) socio-economic and cultural aspects of our society, (b) scientific theories of Socialism, Democracy and various other schools of thought, (c) popular movements of all kinds, political parties and organisations, and (d) developing institutions like schools, libraries and research centres, explained the managing trustee, Koratala Satyanarayana.

As part of the first phase of the activities, the Trust started a public research library at the Kendram.  It has a rich collection of rare books, journals, newspapers, reports, pamphlets, manuscripts, private papers, etc. in different languages. The collection is particularly rich in Urdu, Telugu and English languages, throwing light on the socio-cultural, economic and political histories and popular movements of all types of the period between 12th and 20th centuries.  In Urdu, the Kendram is privileged and fortunate to have the private collection of Abdus Samad Khan, numbering around 60,000 books.  In order to preserve our cultural heritage, the Kendram has been systematically collecting and preserving for the benefit of posterity the materials relating to  (a) private papers of individuals, (b) papers of village organisations, (c) papers of social, cultural and literary associations, (d) papers of all women’s organisations, Left organisations, trade unions, tribal and peasant associations, (e) rare printed material on all aspects of Indian life, (f) printed and unprinted materials and papers of all secular political parties, (g) materials on all aspects of Indian history, and (h) manuscripts.

The work of the Kendram, however, was severely affected in August 2000 due to sudden flash flood. Spending around Rs 2 crore, more than 150,000 books, journals and manuscripts were completely recovered. In that struggle for recovery, the Trust was supported not only by the Party and the public but also by international educational institutions like the University of Chicago, which donated Rs 1.4 crore for the recovery and restoration of the library of Sundarayya Vignana Kendram.  It was after that devastating experience with the flood that the Trust has approached the government of Andhra Pradesh to provide it land so that the research libraries, and the research centre called Sodhana and all the activities related to the conservation of our cultural heritage could be relocated at a secure place.  The Trust is now building this new research and cultural heritage centre  at Gachi Bowli for public use. 

Chicago University has extended its help to Sundarayya Vignana Kendram to prepare catalogues of books, journals and manuscrupts published in different languages in South India and to microfilm and digitise the rare ones among them. The Kendram is now creating the electronic catalogues under the project “South Asia Union Catalogue” for the use of global community of scholars covering all that was published till 1956 in South Indian languages. It is microfilming all the old printed materials in South Indian languages and Urdu so that our printed heritage is conserved for posterity. Sundarayya Vignana Kendram is not only a partner in the Digital South Asia Libraries Project, but also is acting as its administrative centre in South India. The Centre for South Asia Libraries, jointly set up by the Universities of Chicago and Columbia, has recognised the SV Kendram as one of the nodal centres in the world. In the study taken up by the Kendram as a part and parcel of these projects, it has come to light that in several villages and small towns the wealth of our invaluable written cultural heritage is perishing, being uncared for, said C Sambi Reddy, secretary of the Kendram. For example, the SV Kendram has taken up the task of preserving such cultural heritage like the libraries of Vetapalem, Kumudavalli, Poduru, Amrutalur and Pitapuram   and the paintings of Dr Sanjeev Dev, the celebrated painter of Andhra Pradesh.  It is now preparing the electronic database for the books and journals in the state archives in Hyderabad, and libraries of Vetapalem, Rajahmundry town hall and Kumudavalli.  However, these two projects alone are not adequate to preserve and make available the entire written culture in Telugu and Urdu languages to the world.  Nor can the task be completed within a few years.  Therefore, the SV Kendram has applied for grant of the British Library, especially to preserve Sanjeev Dev’s paintings.  There are indications that the response is positive. In the process, database for lakhs of books will be created and thousands of rare books will be microfilmed and digitised.  All these will be within the reach of the entire world through the web site of the Vignana Kendram - www.sundarayya.org. Moreover, lakhs of books will reach the library of the Kendram and will become one of the main sources for the upcoming research centre Sodhana.  Due to lack of adequate space in the present complex at Baghlingampally, some books have had to be kept in the cellar again.  To provide required space for lakhs of books that will be reaching the Kendram in future, and to process and preserve them, a big laboratory and a technical wing are required.  In addition to all these, and to the upcoming research and cultural heritage centre a big complex is required. This new centre will have the state of the art facilities for research in humanities and social sciences and a permanent gallery space for paintings. It is in this background of expanding its multifarious activities that the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram has embarked upon this new venture and is seeking cooperation and help of the public and the governments.     (MVR)