National Archives of India
The National Archives of India is a repository of the non-current records of the Government of India and holds them in trust for the use of administrators and scholars. Originally established as the Imperial Record Department in 1891, in Calcutta, the capital of British India, the NAI is situated at the intersection of the Janpath and Kartavya Path, in Delhi. It functions as an Attached Office of the Department of Culture under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
History
The Imperial Record Department was set up on 11 March 1891 in Calcutta. G. W. Forrest was named the department head. The Imperial Records Department was charged with aggregating, appraising, and managing the documents of all departments of the British Government. It was led by the Keeper of Records. After independence, the post was renamed Director of Archives.In 1911 the Department was transferred to the new capital, New Delhi, and in 1926 it was shifted into its new building. This building was one of four museum and archive buildings planned by the architect Edwin Lutyens around 'Point B' in the city plan, the intersection of King's Way and Queen's Way. However, only this one was built. It is built in late neo-classical style, and was originally known as the Imperial Record Office.
K. R. Narayanan, then President of India, declared the "Museum of the National Archives" open to the general public on 6 July 1998. This museum provides a representative overview of the multifarious holdings of the National Archives, and promotes a common man's interest in archival holdings.
The NAI has a Regional Office at Bhopal and three Record Centres at Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Puducherry.
Records
The holdings in the National Archives are in a regular series starting from the year 1748. The languages of the records include English, Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Sanskrit and Urdu, and their materials include paper, palm leaf, birch bark and parchment. The records are in four categories: Public Records, Oriental Records, Manuscripts and Private Papers.There has been a significant amount of criticism regarding the lack of care taken for the preservation and handling of records.