Preserving History: Gyan Bharatam Mission By Culture Ministry To Digitise 50 Crore Manuscript Pages

The Ministry of Culture has launched a major initiative under the Gyan Bharatam Mission to preserve and digitise nearly 50 crore pages of rare Indian manuscripts, The New Indian Express reported.

These texts, are inscribed on materials such as palm leaf, birch bark, paper, and cloth, and written in languages like Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Arabic, Persian, Bengali, and Malayalam.

According to the report, the digitisation process is expected to span at least three years and the ministry has initiated the tendering process to appoint an agency for the project, which will ultimately make all digitised records accessible via an online portal.

Due to their age, many manuscripts are fragile and require delicate handling. Some contain visual content such as maps, charts, and illustrations, but exact counts will be known only upon examination. Challenges include ink bleeding, worm damage, stains, and translucent pages.

The mission seeks to preserve India’s ancient knowledge systems and cultural heritage, ensuring their longevity and worldwide accessibility for future generations.

According to officials, digitisation will facilitate long-term conservation and make India’s diverse manuscript heritage easily accessible from locations nationwide.

The government has restructured the National Mission for Manuscripts into the Gyan Bharatam Mission, a Central Sector Scheme running from 2024 to 2031 with an allocation of Rs 482.85 crore to enhance digitisation and public outreach.

As of April, about 3.5 lakh manuscripts comprising over 3.5 crore folios have been digitised, with 1.35 lakh uploaded online. Nearly 76,000 of these are freely accessible to the public.

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