Lok Sabha Question No. 3259 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-08-10
Subject: Digitisation of Manuscripts
Ministry: CULTURE
Asked by: RAMESH POKHRIYAL NISHANK

**GOVERNMENT OF INDIA**

**MINISTRY OF CULTURE**

**LOK SABHA**

**UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3259**

**TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.08.2015**

**DIGITISATION OF MANUSCRIPTS**

**3259.  DR. RAMESH POKHRIYAL  “NISHANK” :**

Will the Minister of **CULTURE** be pleased to state:

1. whether our country has the largest collection of manuscripts in the world;

1. if so, the details thereof along with the existing policy of the Government for preservation/conservation and digitisation of the manuscript heritage of the country;
2. the total number of manuscripts documented, digitized and preserved till date;
3. the funds allocated by the Government in this regard during each of the last three years and the current year, State-wise;
4. whether the Government has undertaken any measures to train the next generation of scholars in various aspects of Manuscript Studies like languages, scripts and critical editing and cataloguing of texts and conservation of manuscripts; and
5. if so, the steps taken by the Government in this regard along with the funds allocated to older universities for preservation, cataloguing and dissemination of manuscripts?

**ANSWER**

**MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR CULTURE & TOURISM AND**

**MINISTER OF STATE FOR CIVIL AVIATION**

**(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)**

**(a) to (c):** No data is available to ascertain as to which country has the largest collection of manuscripts in the world. The National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) was established in the year 2003 to document, preserve and digitize the manuscripts wealth of  India.  Through its Manuscript Resource Centres (MRCs), the NMM has documented 40.21 lakh manuscripts so far and a total of 253 lakh pages have been digitized. 35 Manuscript Conservation Centres (MCCs) are identified across the country which conserve manuscripts with the help of grants from NMM. A total of 3,12,14,955 manuscript folios (preventive) and 39,64,974 manuscript folios (curative) have been conserved till date by NMM.

Besides this, the National Archives of India operates two schemes for providing financial assistance for preservation of documentary heritage including manuscripts. These are:

1. Scheme of Financial Assistance for Preservation and Conservation of Manuscripts, Rare Books, Old and Rare Documents, Record of History to Registered Voluntary Organizations/Individuals etc.

1. Scheme of Financial Assistance to State/Union Territory Archival Repositories, Government Libraries and Museums.

/Contd…. on 2/

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**(d):** There is no State-wise allocation of funds for the above.

**(e) & (f):** For training the students and researchers in Indian languages /scripts and manuscripts studies, basic level and advance level workshops are organized in manuscriptology and paleography, at different locations in the country. Up to March 2015, 53 basic level workshops were conducted for imparting training to 1939 scholars and 21 advance level workshops for imparting training to 637 scholars.

For cataloguing the Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit & Grantha manuscripts in India and the world, the New Catalogus Catalogorum Project under University of Madras was undertaken. It has prepared 41 volumes so far.

For imparting training in conservation of manuscripts, preventive and curative conservation workshops are organized by MRCs and MCCs, some of which are based in universities.

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