Centre to release digital copies of secret files on Netaji today

Finally, putting an end to the anticipation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the digital copies of 100 files related to Subhash Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary tomorrow.

"The National Archives of India (NAI) is placing 100 files relating to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in public domain after preliminary conservation treatment and digitization. On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Netaji, the Prime Minister will release the digital copies of these files in public domain," an official release said today.

The initiative will meet the "long-standing public demand" to access these files as well as facilitate scholars to carry out further research on Bose, it said.

The NAI also plans to release digital copies of 25 declassified files on Bose in the public domain every month.

The first lot of 33 files were declassified by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and handed over to the NAI on December 4, last year.

Modi, in his meeting with members of Bose family here on October 14, last year, had announced that the government would declassify the files relating to Bose and make them accessible to public.

After an hour-long conversation with Bose’s family members, he took to the social media platform Twitter and announced that the files would be released on 23rd of January.

Subsequently, the Ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs too initiated the process of declassification of files relating to Bose in their respective collection which were then transferred over to the NAI, it added.