PANAJI
Taking forward its plan to access Goa’s historical records preserved in Portugal, the State government has constituted a committee of experts to identify and prepare a list of documents to be digitally acquired from public and private archives and libraries in the European country.
The move comes months after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced in the 2026-27 Budget that the government would work towards accessing and digitally preserving historically significant documents relating to Goa currently housed in Portugal, particularly in archives in Lisbon.
The government has now constituted an expert committee comprising historians and officials of the Department of Archives to identify the records and prepare a priority list. The committee has been asked to submit its first list within one month of its constitution and will have a tenure of six months from the date of publication of the order in the Official Gazette.
“The Committee is constituted to identify and prepare a list of documents to be acquired digitally from various Private and Public Archives and Library from Portugal. The Committee shall submit their first list within one month from the date of constitution of this Committee,” the notification stated.
The initiative follows Sawant’s December 18, 2025 communication to Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar seeking assistance in obtaining digital copies of Portuguese-era records relating to Goa. The Ministry of External Affairs responded positively on February 23, 2026, while Portuguese authorities also expressed willingness to cooperate in identifying records that could be shared with Goa.
Among the institutions identified for the exercise are the Overseas Historical Archives in Lisbon, Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Caixas da India and the National Library of Lisbon.
The government’s initiative is aimed at improving access for Goan historians and researchers to archival material documenting the State’s political, administrative, social and cultural history.
