Dr. Shivanand Nautiyal Government Post Graduate College, Karanprayag is situated at the confluence of river Alaknanda and river Pindar on the way to the Shrine of Badrinath at the distance of 178 km from nearest railway station Rishikesh. Karanprayag,  one of the  important town of district Chamoli, occupies   30.27’ N Latitude and 79.25 E Longitude  837 m msl on NH58 (Rishikesh -Badrinath Highway) and being one of the panchprayag, with impact of Kumauni traditions  and its traditional connectivity with Kumaun  and Garhwal since a long back, it has great religious, cultural and historical importance.

Dr. Shivanand Nautiyal Government Post Graduate College, Karanprayag, was established in  the year 1979 by U.P. Government vide G. O. No.2536/5/20/28-7-77 dated 19-9-1979 with Arts (Subjects: Hindi, English, Economics, Political Science, History, Sanskrit and Geography) and Commerce Faculties at Undergraduate level. Science Faculty with Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Zoology and Botany at Undergraduate level   was started in the year 2003 vide letter no 46/ Ucch Shiksha/2002-2003(81)2000, Dehradun dated 13-8-2003.

Post Graduate classes in Arts (Hindi and Economics) were started in 2006 and in Science (Zoology, Botany and Chemistry) in 2014. Two remaining natural science subjects (Physics and Mathematics) at Post Graduate level were started in the year in 2015. The Post Graduate courses in Geography, Political science, Sanskrit, History and English were started in the year 2018.

In 2015, vide letter no. Uttarakhand Shasan, Ucch Shiksha Anubhag- 7  G.O. 2691/XXIV(7)/2014/09 (Ghoshna)/2012, Dehradun Dinank 25-09-2014 Government Degree College, Karanprayag was renamed  Sw (Swargiya) Dr. Shivanand  Nautiyal Rajkiya Mahavidyalaya Karanprayag  after the name of Dr. Shivanand  Nautiyal a renowned political personality, a devoted social worker, scholar with the credit of being author of many informative books on culture and heritage of Garhwal Himalaya and Ex- Minister of Higher Education in undivided Uttar Pradesh.

Dr. Shivanand Government Post Graduate College Karanprayag now avail all of the privileges of a Post Graduate College, as it has been upgraded to Post Graduate level by Government of Uttarakhand vide G.O.198/XXIV(7)/2015/02(6)08 Ucch Shiksha Anubhag-7, Dehradun dated 8-5-2015 and now the College is renamed as Dr. Shivanand  Nautiyal Government Post Graduate College Karanprayag (Chamoli).