NationalarChives:The National Archives of India is the official cultural management agency of India, responsible for receiving and maintaining the historical records of India and the records of the central government agencies, and supervising the paperwork and archival work of the central government agencies.

The central-level, comprehensive archives of India, which receive Established in 1947, it was formerly known as the Imperial Archives Department, which was established in 1891. It is located in New Delhi. It is one of the larger archives in Asia.

The National Archives of India performs some of the functions of an archival authority, but does not have the power to influence the archival work of the states. The Historical Records Committee works closely with the National Archives to compensate, to some extent, for the absence of an archival authority. The Director of the National Archives serves as the Secretary of the Council on Archives and thus has some influence over the archival work of the states through the Council on Archives.

The Indian Council of Archives also employed foreign scholars as its correspondent members. In the 1950s, the famous Chinese historian Shang Xian and archivist Wu Baokang were appointed as its correspondent members.

The genesis of the National Archives of India may be traced back to the year 1860 when Sandeman, the Civil Auditor, in his report stressed the need of relieving the offices of congestion by destruction of the papers of routine nature and transfer of all valuable records Nothing could come out, however, in a 'Grand Central Archive'. Nothing could come out, however, in concrete shape until 1889 when Professor G.W. Forrest of Elphinstone College, Bombay was entrusted the job to examine Nothing could come out, however, in concrete shape until 1889 when Professor G.W. Forrest of Elphinstone College, Bombay was entrusted the job to examine the records of the Foreign Department of the Government of India.

Earlier he had earned reputation as an In his report, he made a strong plea for transferring all records of the administration of East India to a Central Repository. In his report, he made a strong plea for transferring all records of the administration of East India Company to a Central Repository.

As a result, Imperial Records Department (IRD) came into existence on 11 March 1891 which was located in Imperial Secretariat Building at Calcutta (Kolkata). Professor G.W Forrest was made its Officer in Charge. His main task was to examine, transfer, arrange and catalogue records of all the Departments and to His main task was to examine, transfer, arrange and catalogue records of all the Departments and to organise a Central Library in place of various Departmental Libraries.

After G.W. Forrest, the work at Imperial Records Department (IRD) progressed well under S.C. Hill (1900), C.R. Wilson (1902), N.L. Hallward (1904), E. Denison Ross (1905), A.F. Scholfield ( 1915), R.A. Blaker (1919), J.M. Mitra (1920) and Rai Bahadur A.F.M. Abdul Ali (1922-1938) who were scholars as well as Records Keepers in their own right.& amp;lt;/p>