National Archives of India – Update (December, 2022)

December 28, 2022

The Director-General of National Achieves of India has recently stated that the agency does not have records of 1962, 1965, and 1971 wars or even the Green Revolution. This is seen by historians as a ploy of successive governments to control the historic narrative as per their political interests.

What is the National Archives of India?

The National Archives of India (NAI) is the repository of all non-current government records that can be used by administrators and scholars.
It comes under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Culture.
Its origins can be traced back to the Imperial Record Department, which was established in the British India’s capital Calcutta in 1891.
The NAI is currently located in Delhi and is involved in conserving government records.
It had started holding records in 1748. These records are in English, Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Sanskrit and Urdu languages.
Currently, the agency is involved in digitizing all records on the newly created Abhilekh Patal portal. Presently, over 1.27 lakh records can be accessed online.
The agency holds regular exhibitions like the one displaying the declassified files on Subhas Chandra Bose in 2016 and the recent exhibition, ‘The Jammu and Kashmir Saga’. Between the years 1973 and 2015, it had organized 108 exhibitions based on different themes.

How does the NAI receive its documents?

Under the Public Records Act, 1993, union ministries and departments are required to transfer records more than 25 years old to the NAI unless they contain classified information.
However, it is up to the respective ministries and department to identify which information is classified, which is often subjective in nature.
Different ministries and administrations have come up with their own definition of what is classified and what is non-current.
There are 151 ministries and departments. The NAI holds records of just 64 government agencies, including 36 ministries and departments.

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