Talk on bringing 1000 books about the culture of Maharashtra on Marathi Wikipedia
Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha, a Pune based non-profit that was founded in Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade and colleagues in 1894, has recently announced to digitise their 1000 volumes of books centred around Peshwa culture. A discussion about digitising these books and making them available online on Marathi Wikisource is being organised on December 1 at the Energy Resources Institute(TERI), Bengaluru. Avinash Chaphekar, Joint Secretary of MGS will be addressing this talk.
Books published by Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha (MGS) vastly cover the Peshwa culture of Maharashtra apart from many other significant aspects of the history of Maharashtra. The books will be digitised on the Marathi-language Wikisource (mr.wikisource.org) by the Marathi Wikimedia community. Marathi Wikisource is a sister project of Marathi Wikipedia and is a free online Marathi-language library. Started in 2012, it currently houses about 800 volumes of Marathi books.
MGS was founded in Pune by Justice M. G. Ranade, Dr. Ramkrishna Bhandarkar and Lokamanya Tilak in 1894. Earlier known Deccan Vernacular Translation Society, it was renamed as Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha in 1948. The Society has a collection of invaluable literary treasure like 100 yrs old rare literary work and manuscripts, Peshwa diaries and records, Justice Ranade's correspondence, 30 thesis on various subjects and many different domains. These collections make the institution a great place for study and research. Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha (MGS) celebrated its 121st anniversary recently at Pune, MGS donated 1000 books for Marathi Wikisource so that the books could be digitised and be made available for millions of Marathi readers. Avinash Chaphekar, Joint Secretary of the organisation who will be addressing the talk that is being organised by the Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru.