National Archives of India Doesn't Have Records Of 1962, 1965, 1971 Wars: DG Chandan Sinha

Director General Chandan Sinha said there are 151 ministries and departments, and the NAI has records only of 64 agencies, including 36 ministries and departments.

The Director General further said that the Defence Ministry had sent 476 files after Independence till the beginning of this year.

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New Delhi: The National Archives of India (NAI) does not have records of 1962, 1965, 1971 wars and the Green Revolution since a number of Union ministries and departments have not shared their records, Director General Chandan Sinha said.

Speaking at a good governance workshop organised by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances on Friday, Sinha said there are a number of ministries that have not shared their records with NAI since Independence.

Underlining that management of records in government is an “essential aspect of good governance”, Sinha said there are 151 ministries and departments, and the NAI has records only of 64 agencies, including 36 ministries and departments.

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“What does it mean… it means we do not have any records in the National Archives of India of the Green Revolution, which we hail all the time, or the wars … 1962 war, the 1965 war, and the 1971 war - the great victory,” Sinha said.

"There are several such issues in certain such areas which I am very sad to share with you that we do not have any records. We are not holding history in trust. Indeed, the question that we must face is that are we losing a large part of our history since independence,” Sinha added.

The Director General further said that the Defence Ministry had sent 476 files after Independence till the beginning of this year. He added that 20,000 files that go up to the year 1960 have been transferred this year.

Sinha said that rather than waiting for a special drive for weeding out files for records, it is supposed to be done every quarter and asserted that there should be no unauthorised destruction of records.

Sinha said that an appraisal of records, and reviewing and identifying them for transfer to NAI is a very important aspect of governance.