Ahmedabad: The Sabarmati Ashram known as the ultimate repository of Mahatma Gandhiji's belongings and souvenirs has now been completely digitised making Bapu's ashram into a virtual walk-through visit.
Gandhiji spent a large part of his life in this ashram and took many important decisions pertaining to India's Independence. 'Gandhi Heritage Portal' was inaugurated in 2013 by the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
The portal can be accessed for free by any user across the world. Virat Kothari, Head IT and Technology, Sabarmati Ashram, told ETV Bharat, "Request for content on Gandhiji comes from all over the world. Every material we have on Bapu — books, letters, etc. have been digitized. We get requests for materials from Gandhian Institutes across the world."
So far over 27 lakh pages have been uploaded on this Gandhi Heritage Portal and about 30,000 pages are uploaded on this portal every month. But due to the shortage of staff during the pandemic, only 15,000 pages have been uploaded every month.
Huge Demand for Gandhi Material
Kothari further said that the portal is available in 191 countries of the world. Content available on this portal is used as a reference by many universities around the world. This is because the authenticity of every content uploaded on this portal is checked and verified. One can go through a virtual walk through this portal. Every Ashram of Gandhiji can be seen. Besides, places associated with Gandhiji can also be seen. Gandhi Ashram as well as 3D modeling of its contents is also available on this portal.
Number of Indian Visitors
The portal gives importance to how much time each visitor spends on each section. There are 1700-1800 visitors who spend more than half an hour on Gandhi's life. In terms of visitors, India comes first followed by America and England.
