IIT researchers and NCSM join to create 'Gandhipedia'

Two IITs and the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) have joined hands to develop 'Gandhipedia', an online repository of books, letters and speeches written by Mahatma Gandhi, to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary.

The entire project will be done with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI), an IIT Kharagpur statement said on Friday.

"In the first phase, over 40 books written by Mahatma Gandhi will be digitised and indexed and their portions tweeted," it said.

"The books will be used to reconstruct the social network of the Mahatma, including those who had influenced him and people whom he had inspired," the statement said.

The first phase is expected to be completed by March next year followed by four more phases till March, 2024, it said.

IIT Gandhinagar is also a part of the project along with IIT Kharagpur and NSCM, an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Culture.

Prof Animesh Mukherjee of IIT Kharagpur's Department of Computer Science and Engineering said Mahatma Gandhi's book 'My Experiments with Truth' will be first used for reconstructing his social network.

Mukherjee, who is leading the project, said a total of 100 works of Mahatma Gandhi, including his letters and speeches, would be uploaded in the portal.