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History of  Himachal Pradesh is no different from the history of  the Country. Since ages Himachal Pradesh remained interwoven to the events of history for this hilly region had always been attracting the invaders for its unparallel hospitality, salubrious environs, adventurous life and rich natural wealth. Himachal  Pradesh and its people did experience the rule of aliens, witnessed the advent of Muhammadans, suffered the expeditions of Gurkhas, conquests of Sikhs and establishment of the colonially imperialistic rule of the British Raj and were also governed by native rulers who had left behind themselves a voluminous past which was scattered all over Himachal Pradesh and even beyond which became imperative for the historians to show their  propensity to gather such historical material for the posterity as well as to form the  exclusive expressions of the  history of the State.  Resultantly the post independence period was marked with the need to house these historical records.

Himachal Pradesh, known as Dev Bhumi, lies in the heart of Western Himalayas. It lies between 30’22’ to 33’12 north latitude and 75’47 to 79’4 east longitude. The territory is almost wholly mountainous with altitudes ranging between 350 to 7000 meters above sea level. Himachal Pradesh became a full-fledged 18th State of the Indian Union on January 25th, 1971 with an area of  55,672 sq. km. It is larger than Punjab, Haryana and Kerala but in population it stands much below.

The history and traditions of Himachal Pradesh go back to the earliest days of human civilization. The Kols, who were the earliest inhabitants and the descendants of the Neolithic man in Himachal as well as the Khashas an off shot of the Aryan race had subjugated the aboriginals and established their colonies in the hills to become new masters of the land. In Mahabharata references of important Janpadas of Trigarta, Audambaras, Kaluta and Kalinda occur. Panini the author of Rajtarangini had also referred to these janpadas. Panini did refer Trigarta as a confederation of six States to substantiate the existence of Himachal Pradesh which was administratively governed by a number of rulers in their respective Janpadas, States, Principalities etc.

While traveling on the historical sources of the history of Himachal Pradesh, it must be remembered that no State or province with this name existed on the map of India. It was only after independence that Himachal Pradesh came into existence as a centrally administered State and it grew into its present size and status in gradual stages. On the eve of independence there were 22 princely States which were then known as the Punjab Hill States and the Shimla Hill States.

These States were

• 1) Bilaspur
• 2) Chamba
• 3) Mandi
• 4) Sirmaur
• 5) Suket
• 6) Bashahr
• 7) Koenthal

• 8) Jubbal
• 9) Baghat
• 10) Bhagal
• 11) Kumarsain
• 12) Dhami
• (13) Bhajji
• 14) Tharoach

• 15) Beja
• 16) Mahlog
• 17) Kunihar
• 18) Sangri
• 19) Balsan
• 20) Kuthar
• 21) Hindur
• 22) Dharkoti

The States of   Bilaspur, Chamba, Mandi, Sirmour and Suket were the members of Chamber of Princes and were called Punjab Hill States where as the remaining non chamber States were known as Shimla Hill States. Consequent upon the attainment of Independence when the country had to face the problem of integration of all the princely States, the heat of the controversy blew as to how the consolidation of the Punjab Hill States and the Shimla Hill States could be concluded.

The struggle for freedom and civil rights in the country also influenced the hill States. “Bhoomi Bandobast Abhiyan.” and a popular uprising in Mandi, session of All India State Conference in 1939, decision to form “Praja Mandals” in the hill States had resulted in general awakening among the hill people. Praja  Mandals were organised in Chamba , Mandi, Bilaspur, Bushahr, Jubbal, Sirmour and other small hill States. A ‘Himalayan Riyasat  Praja  Mandal  was organised in December, 1939 to coordinate the work for directing the activities of the political and social workers in the numerous States. Praja Mandal movement gathered momentum in Sirmaur State also. A parallel government was established there against the high handedness of  the State officials. The Praja Mandal at Chamba also rose against the Nepotistic attitude of  Diwan of Chamba. On the other hand Bushahr  Sudhar  Sammalen and  Bushahr  Prem  Sabha played vital role in reactivating the Bushahr Praja Mandal. This Praja Mandal movement in the Hill States pressurized the princes to set up responsible Governments. As a result of Praja Mandal Movement numerous demands of the people were conceded and as a result a number of  mantri parishads were set up in the  princely states. The struggle for freedom culminated in the liberation of India from the atrocious foreign yoke on August 15, 1947 which paved way for the Indians to govern themselves by way of democratic pronouncements. In this part of the country, there was demand that hill States should be merged with the East Punjab but it was opposed both by the rulers of these States and the people on the ground that the people of these areas were different in point of stock, manners, customs and language from the people of the Punjab. The Praja Mandal representatives and the rulers of the States announced the formation of Himachal Pradesh in March 1948 but a section of Praja Mandal was against it as they were in favour of the transfer of power to the elected representatives of the people instead of leaving it in the hands of the ruling princes. They thought that it is not the rulers alone but   the people of the States also who are concerned with changes and it is the people’s interest that is going to be vitally affected. The formation of  Himachal Pradesh on 15th April, 1948 was at first a centrally administered territory which was headed by Chief Commissioner and his Deputy. On September, 1948 an advisory council was also formed to advice the Chief Commissioner in the discharge of administrative work. The council consisted of three representatives of the ruler and six nominated representatives of the people. The functions of the council were to purely advisory and thus had no real power. As a result the Chief Commissioner worked arbitrarily to which congress members of the Advisory Council resigned in disgust.

The first task undertaken by the administration after the formation of Himachal Pradesh was the integration and reorganisation of the services drawn from some thirty erstwhile Princely States. The problem was not only of unification of the services, but also of introducing uniform pattern of work and improving its standard.

To start with only the Chief Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner along with half a dozen officers were fitted into the administrative set up. Since the people of Himachal Pradesh were cherishing a bigger deal for the State, the Government of India, in defence to the wishes of the people, enacted the Government of  Part ‘C’ States Act, 1951 which was assented to by the President of India on September 6th, 1951 providing for the constituting of an elected assembly and the formation of Council of Ministers. With the assent of the President of India to the ‘Act’ as said Chief Commissioner of  the  State stood replaced by the Lieutenant Governor and resultantly election to the thirty six members legislative assembly was held in November, 1951. On 1st March 1952 the first Lieutenant Governor Major General M.S. Himmat Singh  assumed the office and on 24th March, 1952, a three member strong and popular ministry was sworn in under the chairmanship of Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar.

The year 1956 marked a change in the history of the administration of  Himachal Pradesh.  After the promulgation of the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, the State of Himachal Pradesh became a “Union Territory”. The status of  Union territory to Himachal Pradesh was effected from 1st November, 1956 and with same date. Raja Bajrang Bhadur  Singh of  Bhadri  assumed the charge of the  administration as the Lieutenant Governor of the State. After the dissolution of the Ministry  on  October 31, 1956 work in the Secretariat was reorganized and various departments were reallocated among the Administrative Secretaries.

In 1956, the Government of India agreed in principle to sanction Indian Administrative Services cadre for Himachal Pradesh.

The question of balancing the management of the local affairs was weighing heavily on he minds of  law givers. Hence, the parliament in December, 1956 passed the Territorial Council Act, 1956. According to the provisions of this Act a territorial Council on the model of a District Board was set up in Himachal Pradesh. This Act introduced the type of diarchy which bore different relations to the territorial Council and the lieutenant Governor. The subjects were divided into two parts. One part comprised the subjects like education up to the school level, medical services and animal husbandry up to the district level, village roads, bridges and buildings, the superintendance and Control of  Panchayats, development of industries, agriculture and co-operatives. These subjects were administered by the Chairman of the Territorial Council assisted by the Chief  Executive Officer, the latter being the principal officer in charge of the various departments and the Territorial Council.

The other group comprised subjects like finance, appointments, judiciary, law and order and revenue. These subjects were administered by the Lieutenant Governor who was also designated as the Administrator. Thus, the Union Territory consisted of two sets of functionaries.

(i) Lieutenant Governor (Administrator) acting with the chairman of the Territorial Council and

(ii) Lieutenant Governor (Administrator) acting with the Secretaries. There was also an advisory Committee to the Union Home Minister, consisting of the lieutenant. Governor  and  the  members  of  the  Parliament  from  Himachal Pradesh to advise the Union Government on matters pertaining to the administrative policy, legislation and financial affairs of the State. The whole system, in short was improperly organized. This had a negative impact on the second Five Year Plan and the Government of India was aware of this fact and went on to enact, the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963  by which the Territorial Council re-elected in 1962, was turned into Legislative Assembly and a three member popular ministry headed by Dr. Y.S. Parmar was sworn in on July  01, 1963. The other ministers were Thakur Karam Singh and Sh. Hari Dass.

In 1965, the question of the reorganization of Punjab on linguistic basis was reopened which provided the long awaited opportunity to the Punjab Hill People and also to the people of Himachal Pradesh to pursue vigorously the objective o their unification on the 1st day November 1966, the long cherished dream of the hill people to merge with Himachal Pradesh was realized with the merger of hilly areas of Punjab, Kangra, Kullu, Shimla, Lahaul & Spiti, the sub division of Nalagarh (Ambala District), parts of Una tehsil (Hoshiarpur District) and Dalhousie and Bakhloh (Gurdaspur District) which extended the territorial jurisdiction of Himachal Pradesh to 56019 sq. kms.
In 1966, when the Punjab Hill Areas were integrated with Himachal Pradesh the following Districts and tehsils formed the new administrative divisions.

Immediately after the establishment of State Archives on 19th April 1986, the records of historical and administrative nature were selected from the offices of Deputy Commissioner, Kangra and Sirmour as well as from district board Kangra. During this year itself, 12,000 old and rare files were hoarded in the State Archives. Records from erstwhile states of Rampur Bushahr, Kumarsain and Sangria were also transferred to the archival repository. In the same year his Excellency Admiral K.K.S. Gandhi, the Governor of Himachal Pradesh made a personal visit to inspect the archival possessions. Himachal State Archives now began to enrich itself in leaps and bounds.

Besides the public records, excellent contributions were made by the erstwhile rulers of Rampur Bushahr, Kumarsain and Sangria for having parted with some 10239 old and rare files/ manuscripts bearing the chronology 1854 — 1936 A.D. A large number of old and rare manuscripts, files, books, gazetteers and gazettes were thereafter collected by the

enterprising officials of State Archives. It is worth mentioning that 22 rare files bearing the chronology 1952-1961 AD were handed over to the Archives by Sh. S.C. Katoch, Ex. Chairman, Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board. These files speak volumes on the construction of   Bhakra Dam, the highest dam in Asia of its time. The role of  the District Magistrates, Sub Divisional Magistrates, Heads of the Departments as well as the Secretariat Record Officials and the Municipal Corporations/ Committees in the State to have deposited their old records available in their relevant areas is worth extolling  for enriching  H.P. State Archives

Himachal State Archives was initially housed in a rented building for some years and thereafter partially in a rented private building and partially in public building. Presently it finds a place in a public building with the Department of Language & Culture.

(Lists of Introduction to existing records)

PRECIOUS POSSESSIONS OF STATE ARCHIVES

There are 50 rare books which have been duly xeroxed and these copies are available in the State Archives. A  list of these rare books is as under :

BESIDES THERE ARE GAZETTEERS AS WELL AS RARE BOOKS RECEIVED FROM STATE GAZETTE DEPARTMENT ON ITS MERGER

Gazetteers from 26 different states/U.T  NO. 427 Rare books transferred from State Gazette Department numbering 236.

From State Gazette Department1819 onwards

Old stamps of Erstwhile States of Himachal Pradesh worth Rupees 5,92,373 and paise 38 only of the nature of judicial as well as non-judicial are also kept to make available system of revenue and receipt during those days in the erstwhile States

A reference library with 1200 books on diverse referral archival matters etc. is functional in the Archives wherein sitting space is available for the visiting scholars

• The Himachal Pradesh Public Records Act, 2006
• Gazette Notification 2006 Himachal Pradesh
• Scheme Of Financial Assistance For Preservation & Conservation of Manuscripts, Rare Books, Old &Rare Documents