In a major step towards preserving India’s vast manuscript heritage, the Union Ministry of Culture has onboarded 20 institutions under its flagship Gyan Bharatam Mission — an ambitious national drive to conserve, digitize, and disseminate the country’s ancient knowledge systems.

Formalised through Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed on October 25, the first batch of participating institutions includes the Asiatic Society in Kolkata, University of Kashmir in Srinagar, Hindi Sahitya Sammelan in Prayagraj, and the Government Oriental Manuscript Library in Chennai. Around 30 more institutes are expected to join soon, officials said.

Announced in the Union Budget 2024–25, the Gyan Bharatam Mission seeks to systematically identify, document, conserve, and digitally preserve India’s manuscript wealth through a unified digital platform — the National Digital Repository (NDR). The platform aims to make India’s ancient knowledge traditions accessible to global audiences.

Under the initiative, institutions have been classified as Cluster Centres and Independent Centres. Cluster Centres will oversee conservation and digitisation work for themselves and up to 20 partner institutions, while Independent Centres will focus on their own collections.

The Ministry will provide funding, technological infrastructure, and quality monitoring through third-party verification. Each participating institution will establish a Gyan Bharatam Cell dedicated to cataloguing, translation, conservation, and outreach, serving as a coordination hub with the Mission.

Funding will be released in two phases — 70% upon approval of the annual plan and the remaining 30% after submission of progress reports, expenditure details, and quality verification certificates.

Last month, the Culture Ministry hosted its first international conference on Indian manuscripts titled “Reclaiming India’s Knowledge Legacy through Manuscript Heritage.” Officials said the Gyan Bharatam Mission builds on that effort, ensuring that India’s centuries-old intellectual and spiritual traditions, preserved in fragile palm-leaf and paper manuscripts, are safeguarded for generations and shared with the world.