Information, Public Relations, Printing and Stationery Department was created by Government of Assam. vide Order No.AR.37/2021/13 Dated 5th August, 2021 by merging two departments namely Information and Public Relations Department and Printing & Stationery Department.

Prior to the merger, the said two departments functioned as separate departments

History of erstwhile Information & Public Relations Department:

Established in June 1940 at Shillong, the then Capital of the State, Public Relations Department, Assam was named Publicity & Rural Development Department at the time of its inception.

In the wake of the World War II, it was set up with the main objective of disseminating war propaganda. The head of the Publicity Department was called Publicity Officer who had two Assistant Publicity Officers - one for Assam Valley and the other for Surama Valley. 

Yahia Khan Choudhury, an Assam Civil Service officer, was the first Publicity Officer of the department. The prime task of the department at that time was to focus on war related news and information dissemination in the form of Press Note, Articles, and Booklets etc. Prominence and Responsibility of the department increased manifold after India's independence.

It used to send two fortnightly reports on - 1) Indo-Pak Relations and 2) Public opinion to the Chief Minister regularly. It also brought out Bhavisyat Asom' (The Future Assam), a fortnightly Journal in Assamese and Bengali. Apart from press release, booklets etc., the department used to deliver war related news by publicity personnel at various important points of Shillong town in English, Assamese, Khasi, Hindi & Nepali language with the help of hand-made megaphone.

During the war period, a separate wing named as Song & Publicity Organization was created in the department with Kriti Nath Sarma Bordoloi, renowned lyricist and musician as head of the wing. The wing composed songs in Assamese, Bengali and Khasi languages and also produced Gramophone Records of the same.

During the tenure of Director I.P. Choudhury, separate wings such as Exhibition, Cultural and Film Division were created in the department.

In November 1997, the Government of Assam vide Notification No.AR31/ 97/2 Dated 1.11.97 created a new department namely “Information & Public Relations Department” by bifurcating the existing Home Department and the new I&PR Department was made the Administrative Department for Directorate of Information & Public Relations. Consequently, the Government of Assam vide Notification No., AR31/97/6 Dtd. 28.4.1998 also upgraded the Directorate of Information & Public Relations from a Level-II Directorate to a Level- I Directorate.

 History of erstwhile Printing & Stationery Department:

The Printing & Stationery Department was originally the Forms Branch which was a part of the then General and Judicial Department. In 1951, the department was split and Forms Branch was constituted into a separate department named Printing & Stationery Department.