A notable characteristic of a modern State, among other things is to maintain historical record for the posterity. In simpler words it is called the archiving of important documents in different forms like cabinet decisions, Government instructions on various important issues in the course of time, important pronouncements and decisions and policy matters. The State is expected to maintain the record in the repositories so that researchers working on the history of the State have access to these records. It is in the light of the significance of the issue that the State has incepted the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums for preserving the record.
In developed western countries, this Department is of singular importance to the scholars, researchers and even to the Government itself which needs to refer to previous records more often than not. Given this significance, the irresponsibility of not maintaining the valuable record for the posterity is a crime which our bureaucracy has been committing for last 31 years. No record of cabinet decisions, important Government statements, policy matters and things related to various services has been preserved. The Archives Department has not received any important documentation from different departments of the Government. The reason why it has remained so is because the top bureaucrats handling their respective departments have always shown slackness in maintaining the record of important documents and decisions pertaining to their respective departments.
The practice from the days of the rule of Maharajas of Kashmir was that a copy of all important decisions was sent to the Archives to be kept safe in the repositories in Srinagar and in Jammu.
During last twelve years, the General Administration Department has been conveying all the departments to send a copy of important cabinet decisions, treaties, memoranda, policy statements, not accessible documents to the Archives for record. But the departments have paid no attention to the instructions of the Government. On May 11, 2004, the then State Government had directed all the departments to identify and prepare a check list of records likely to be transferred to Archives Repositories at Jammu/Srinagar for retention/preservation. It was also instructed through this circular that copies of all Government orders issued by various departments shall invariably be endorsed to Director Archives, Archaeology and Museums for record. Sadly, no departmental head paid attention to the instruction and failed to preserve any record.
However, the present Coalition Government remained seized of the importance of the issue. On April 22, 2016, the Finance Minister while presiding over a meeting was informed that no archiving of Government record had been made since 1985 which is a period of 31 years. This was confirmed by the Director of Archives, adding that no important documents or files were deposited with the two repositories. The Finance Minister reacted to this gross negligence shown towards a very vital issue. He issued instructions that within six months all major documents for last 31 years have to be listed for transfer to the repositories at Srinagar and Jammu. He further instructed that all departments will sent a copy of important decisions and policies to the Archives. It is now six months when those instructions were issued. No heed has been paid to the instructions of the Finance Minister and no department has taken the word of the FM seriously. The result is that no important documents have been sent to the repositories.
It has to be said that by not archiving official record of much significance in the repositories, the research scholars and enlightened segments of civil society have been denied the opportunity of documenting the history of the State for these thirty-one years of neglect. In the long run it is a loss to the culture and social ethos of the people of the State. Wherefrom will the research scholars authenticate their views and assertions when the requisite archival record is not available to them.
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