Government Documents

What is a Government Document?

It is an publication that is printed at government expense or published by
authority of a government body. Document may be considered on terms of
issuing agencies: the congressional, judiciary, and executive branches, which
includes many department and agencies.
In terms of use documents may be classified as:
1) Record of government administration.
2) Research document for specialist,
3) Popular source of information.
The form may be book, pamphlet, magazine, monograph, microform or
almost any media.
There are so many types of govt. documents like, gazetteer, census, act,
agreements, Parliamentary committee reports, committee reports, Annual reports, etc.

Gazetteers:
A gazetteer is a register of geographical information concerning places and locations, rivers,
mountains and so on. This information is used in conjunction with maps, working as an index to
the topographical and structure location information. In addition to this, a gazetteer may also
contain demographical information such as population, numeracy rates etc.
Example:
1. Gazetteer of India: History and Culture, Volume:2
Gazetteer of India which deal with the history & culture of our ancient land. It is divided
in 3 parts i.e. i) Ancient India, ii) Medieval India, iii) Modern India.

The main emphasis in this vol. has been on the social, culture, economic, & artistic life of
the people. Background of political history also given. It also provide maps, bibliography,
index.
2. The Gazetteer of India: Economic Structure & Activities, Volume:3
The present volume covers almost all important aspect of our economic life. This volume
deal with survey of countrys natural resources, community development, banking &
money market, external resources, consumption & welfare, Plans &prospects,etc.
3. Gazetteer of India: Maharashtra State, Thane District, 1982
This edition an attempt has been made to give an idea of the latest developments whether
in regard to social, religious, & culture trends.
It included not only a description of the physical & natural resources of a region but also
a broad narrative of the social, political, economic, & culture life to the people living in
that region.
4. Gazetteer of India: Maharashtra State, Nanded District, 1971
It was considered to be a great value to the authentic & useful information on several
aspects of life in a district.
In this volume an attempt has been made to give an idea of the latest developments
whether in regard to the administrative structure or the economic set up or in regard to
social, religious, & cultural trends.

Census:
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about
the members of a given population. Other common censuses include agriculture,
business, and traffic censuses.
Example:
1. Child labour facts & figure: An analysis of census 2001.
The primary objective of this report is to present a profile of working child aged 5-17
years at all India & State levels as per census 2001.The age group 5 years was selected to
keep the study consonance with the target group selected under ILO- INDUS Child
Labour Project. The information relating to general population & population aged 5-14
years will help in understand the overall complexity & concomitant factors of child
labour.
2. Census of India 1981, Haryana: Final Population Totals.
It provides information about the total population & scheduled castes population of
Haryana down to the level of tahsil & town. There are no Scheduled Tribe in the state
which comprised of twelve districts, 39 tahsils & 81 towns on 31st December, 1979 the
date when the boundaries were frozen for the conduct of the census.
3. Census of India 1961, Census- Religion

Separate statistics have been published in this paper on the six numerically important
religions of India: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Islam & Sikhism. Other
religions have been collectively presented under others.
Why we use of government publications?
Its reliable & authentic information. It provides primary source material for many
disciplines.
Collections of Government Publications in SNDT Womens University Library: