Guwahati, Oct. 16: The Assam government has embarked on a journey to trace the state’s political history post-Independence and publish it in three volumes, to be helmed by historian Rajen Saikia.

The first volume, covering the period between 1947 and 1971, is expected to come out in December 2015. While the second volume will cover the period from 1972 to 1990, the third will span the years between 1991 and 2012.

The Publication Board, Assam, had earlier published a pre-independence political history of Assam in 1977, 1978 and 1980 covering the period between 1826-1919, 1920-1939 and 1940-1947 respectively.

The project is aimed at filling up the gap in the contemporary history of Assam post-Independence based on official accounts and documents.

“The state government decided to launch this project so that people are made aware about certain developments and decisions that shaped the history and destiny of composite Assam after Independence,” a source associated with the project said.

The decision to entrust Saikia of Nagaon with the responsibility of bringing out the volumes was taken at a recent meeting chaired by chief minister Tarun Gogoi, whose uninterrupted tenure since 2001 has been marked by key developments and decisions.

Talking to The Telegraph on the “challenging nature” of the project, Saikia said, “It will be a scientific history based on research, archival sources and interviews and not popular history. Three full-time and three part-time workers will be involved in the project. We will try to bring out the first volume by December 2015. Finding personalities who played key roles in shaping the history of Assam will be a challenging task.”

The project, sources said, would touch upon important issues such as the reorganisation of states, immigration, refugee, secessionism (Naga imbroglio), Sino-Indian war, land reforms, refinery movement and the language movement. “The projects may initially invite criticism but since they are based on official accounts they will stand the test of time,” a source said.

The secretariat administration department (archives) will act as nodal department with its principal secretary Jishnu Baruah functioning as the coordinator, Dispur said this evening. The project cell will function from the directorate of archives here.