[2] A town and Nagar Panchayat, Gairsain is situated at the eastern edge of the vast Dudhatoli mountain range, and is located in Chamoli district almost at the centre of the state, at a distance of approximately 250 kilometres from Dehradun.

[9] For more than a century the area fell under the empire of Kushanas and later on under the sway of Shilvarman, a powerful king who styled himself lord of the mountains.

The Garhwal state was founded in 823 AD, when Kanakpal, the prince of Malwa, on his visit to the Badrinath Temple, met the King Bhanu Pratap, a chieftain of Chandpur Garhi.

Kanakpal and his descendants of Parmar dynasty, gradually conquered all the independent fortresses (Garhs) belonging to its 52 small chieftains, and ruled the whole of Garhwal Kingdom for the next 915 years, up to 1804 AD.

[18] Soon after this the Gorkha leaders Amar Singh Thapa, Hastidal Chutariya and some others invaded Garhwal with a large and well equipped army.

[20] In 1919, this area came into prominence as a centre of political activity under the leadership of Anusuya Prasad Bahuguna, a leader who held public meetings against coolie-begar system.

The same year, three BJP ministers and MLAs supported the demand of a separate Uttarakhand state in a public meeting held in the town.

UKD, In the honour of Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali, named this proposed capital region as Chandranagar.

[23] A hunger strike, which lasted for 157 days, was organised in the year 1994 in order to pressurise the government to announce Gairsain as the capital of Uttarakhand.

[22] The same year, a committee headed by Ramashankar Kaushik, which was constituted by then Mulayam Singh Yadav Government, recommended the creation of the hill state of Uttarakhand with Gairsain as its capital.

The Dikshit Commission narrowed down the search to 5 cities: Dehradun, Kashipur, Ramnagar, Rishikesh and Gairsain; and after taking 8 years, submitted its 80-page report to the Uttarakhand Assembly on 17 August 2008.

[28] Although, the whole state, baring plains, is in Seismic Zone-5 In 2012, the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Vijay Bahuguna organized a cabinet meeting in Gairsain.

[21] After the success of this meeting, the foundation stone of a new building for the Uttarakhand Assembly was set in the GIC Ground in the year 2013.

The same year, Bhoomi Poojan Program was organized for the Vidhan Sabha Bhavan in Bhararisain, located about 14 km away from Gairsain.

[32] Another session of the Uttarakhand Cabinet was held in Gairsain in 2017[33][34] and the following year, the state government decided to set up an integrated township at Bhararisain.

[36][37] An official notification to this effect was issued on 8 June 2020 by the government after the then governor, Baby Rani Maurya gave her assent to the move.

[39] It was proposed to be the third administrative division of the state after Garhwal and Kumaon, and would include the districts of Almora, Bageshwar, Chamoli and Rudraprayag.

[42] According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the town falls under seismic zone 5, in a scale of 2 to 5 (in order of increasing vulnerability to earthquakes).

[47] Gairsain comes under the Ramganga Soil Conservation Project that was initiated to contain the advancement of siltation in the Kalagarh dam.

This project, covering the catchment area of the streams feeding the dam, has its head offices located in Ranikhet.

The city is situated at an elevation of 1650 metres, and as a result, the climate of the area is largely dependent on its high altitude.

[48] Skies are heavily clouded during the monsoon months and for short spells when the region is affected by the passage of western disturbances.

The effectiveness of the rains is, among others, related to low temperature which means less evapotranspiration from the surrounding forests and vegetation cover – indicating that the soil moisture in the area is well preserved.

[42] The relative humidity is moderately high during the monsoon season around 60 percent but the unpleasant effect is offset by the winds which make it less oppressive.

Ex-Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna promised to undertake numerous developmental projects in Gairsain, during his first visit to the town.

There have also been plans to link Chaukhutia to Ramnagar with a Rail line,[54] which would be instrumental in bringing Gairsain on the Railway map.

Government is planning the development of an Airport at Chaukhutia, which is situated in Almora district at a distance of 35 km from Gairsain.

National Highway 109 passes through the town, and connects with the cities of Haldwani, Almora, Ranikhet, Dwarahat and Karnaprayag.