State whether true or false:

Official documents help us understand what the people of the country think.

False, Official documents didn’t help us to understand what the people of the country think.

British recorded all the information for making administration work easier. They considered that writing is important so every plan, policy, decision, agreement, investigation was recorded in a written form. This makes it easier to debate and discuss various issues. This led to the formation of memos, notings and reports which included all the information of the administration system of the British rule. They also believed in the preservation of the documents and letters. Archival records still contain the memos and letters like notes and reports prepared by the district officials, or the instructions and directives sent by the officials at the top to provincial administrators.

But even though these official records were the sources for constructing Indian History but at the same time there were many things which official records didn’t tell such as –These records included only that information which officials wanted to record, which they thought is important, events they were interested in and which they wanted to preserve for the future generations. These records didn’t tell us what common people felt and the causes of their actions.

Also, most of these sources are recorded by the literate people, what about those who cannot write. Those who cannot write like tribals, peasants, workers in the mines or poor on the streets, their history cannot be understood or created. Thus, to know about them is a challenging task.