Lok Sabha Question No. 3737 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-16
Subject: National Mission for Manuscripts
Ministry: CULTURE
Asked by: Shri K E Prakash

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3737 ANSWERED ON 16.03.2026

## NATIONAL MISSION  FOR MANUSCRIPTS

3737. Shri K E Prakash:

## Will the Minister of CULTURE

be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  status  of  National  Mission  for  Manuscripts  (NMM)  on  covering  one  crore  manuscripts,  as answered in Unstarred Question No. 2376 dated 04.08.2025;
- (b)  the  details  of  the  reasons  for  setting  a  fixed  target  of  one  crore  manuscripts  under  NMM,  given India's  vast  and  diverse  manuscript  heritage  across  different  regions  of  the  country  along  with criteria to determine which manuscripts are included or excluded;
- (c)  the  details  of  the  safeguards  put  in  place  by  the  Government  to  ensure  the    preservation  and protection of historic documents from any alteration or erasure or tampering; and
- (d)  the  manner  in  which  the  accessibility  and  authenticity  of  historic  manuscripts  once  digitized  to ensure  that  these  invaluable  resources  remain  reliable  and  available  for  research  and  public reference?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF CULTURE AND TOURISM (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

- (a) Government has launched Gyan Bharatam Mission as a major initiative under the Ministry of Culture. It aims to Survey, Document, Conserve, Digitize, and make accessible Manuscripts located in academic Institutions, Museums, Libraries, and Private collections across India.

To support the initiative, the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) has sanctioned Rs.491.66 crore for the period 2025-2031.

This  Mission  has  been  mandated  to  establish  a  nation-wide  network  of  Cluster  Centers  (CCs)  and Independent Centers (ICs) across the country to carry out above mentioned activities and more than 40 CCs and ICs have been onboarded so far in this direction. In addition, 28 States / UTs have also been onboarded so far to act as the Nodal Coordinating Authority for the mission's implementation within the State / UT concerned.

Technical  partners  have  been  on  boarded  for  various  functions  including  metadata  creation  and  its integration  on  National  Digital  Repository  (NDR),  deployment  of  equipments, AI-integrated  digital platform and long term data storage.

- (b) With an objective of undertaking the manuscript related activities on a broader and intensive level  on  pan-India  level,  one  crore  is  an  estimated  figure.  Gyan  Bharatam  Mission  aims  to  survey, document,  conserve,  digitize  and  make  accessible  manuscripts  located  in  academic  institutions, museums,  libraries  and  private  collections  across  India.  This  initiative  focuses  to  cover  manuscripts wealth of India irrespective of any group of region, language and scripts.
- (c) Gyan  Bharatam  Mission  uses  a  systematic,  technology-driven  framework to  protect  India's manuscript heritage. This framework includes scientific conservation & restoration through preventive and curative  methods,  high  standard  digitization  of  manuscripts,  centralized  access  to  digitized  data through  NDR,  data  security  through LTO-9  tapes and  cloud-based  backup  with  disaster  recovery systems.

In addition, the National Archives of India (NAI) has also undertaken large-scale digitization initiatives to  create  high-resolution  digital  copies  of  historical  records  where  a  checksum  is  generated  for  each digital image which helps to verify the integrity and authenticity of the digital records and ensures that any alteration or tampering can be detected.

- (d) Under Gyan Bharatam Mission, each digitized manuscript is accompanied by proper metadata, cataloguing  and  documentation  which  helps  to  maintain  authenticity  and  traceability  of  the  original source. Digital copies are stored in secure digital repository namely NDR which serves as a repository that  allows  for  instant  access  for  research  etc.  Data  security  through LTO-9  tapes and  cloud-based backup with disaster recovery systems is also envisaged.

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