Guwahati: IIT Guwahati said the first National Digital Library of India North East Regional Centre will help in the integration of regional content from the northeastern states.

The institute said on Tuesday that the first National Digital Library of India North East Regional Centre (NDLI-NERC) was inaugurated at IIT Guwahati on April 20.

"The new centre will help in the integration of regional content from the northeastern states within NDLI," said Partha Pratim Das, the joint principal investigator of the NDLI.

The National Digital Library of India is a National Mission Project in Education developed by IIT Kharagpur under the aegis of the ministry of human resource development as a framework of virtual repository of learning resources with a single window search facility for learners of all ages and disciplines.

The platform, launched in 2016, is currently available as a free website as well as a mobile app.

IIT Guwahati will aid all the schools, colleges, academic institutions, professionals, specially-abled students, and all other learners in the region, to integrate with and gain free access to quality education.

Professor Gautam Biswas, director of IIT Guwahati, explained the historiography behind the advent of digital education in India - dawning from the television channel Eklabya to the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) - projects that aimed to spread public education in the country.

Mihir Kanti Chaudhuri, the former vice-chancellor of Tezpur University and current adviser to the education department, government of Assam, said IIT Guwahati needs to popularise the library so it can benefit all stakeholders."