‘Many ministries not sharing records’: National Archives head says no documents on 1962, 1965, 1971 wars

On Sunday, Sinha told The Indian Express: “As per the Public Records Act, 1993, various central ministries and departments are supposed to transfer records more than 25 years old to the NAI, unless they pertain to classified information.”

“It is up to the respective ministries and departments to ascertain what is classified information, and the NAI (which functions under the Ministry of Culture) is merely the record-keeper”.

The NAI keeps and conserves records of the government of India and its organisations. It does not receive classified documents.

Underlining that record management in government is a key aspect of good governance, Sinha said at the workshop that there are several ministries that have not shared their records with the NAI since independence.

“We do not have any records in the NAI of the Green Revolution, which we hail all the time, or the 1962 war, the 1965 war, and the 1971 war, the great victory,” he 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 said that the Defence Ministry had sent 476 files after Independence till the beginning of 2022, adding that 20,000 files that go up to the year 1960 have been transferred this year.

Rather than waiting for a special campaign for recording and weeding out of files for records, it is supposed to be done every quarter, he said.