Parliament Question: Digitisation of manuscripts

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4351 ANSWERED ON 02.04.2026 Digitisation of manuscripts 4351 # Shri Deepak Prakash:

Shri Kesridevsinh Jhala:

Shri Brij Lal:

Dr. Dinesh Sharma:

Shri Lahar Singh Siroya:

Shri Madan Rathore:

Shri Sadanand Mhalu Shet Tanavade:

Will the Minister of Culture be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Ministry has launched the Gyan Bharatam Mission;

(b) if so, the details thereof with total outlay for the mission;

(c) the manner in which the mission has digitised over 3.5 lakh manuscripts in various regional repositories as of early 2026;

(d) the specific role AI-assisted Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) play in making these ancient manuscripts searchable for researchers;

(e) whether the Kriti Sampada digital repository now hosts over 44 lakh documented manuscripts for global public access; and

(f) the manner in which the Ministry incentivised private collectors to share and digitise rare palm-leaf manuscripts under the new guidelines? ANSWER MINISTER OF CULTURE AND TOURISM (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

(a) & (b) Gyan Bharatam Mission (GBM), announced during Union Budget 2025-26, is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Culture (MoC), Government of India to undertake manuscripts related activities under various components including survey and registration of manuscripts, building robust technology infrastructure and partnership, documentation, preservation, conservation, digitization, publication of manuscripts and capacity building &research. To support the initiative, the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) has sanctioned Rs.491.66 crore for the period 2025-2031.

(c) Technical partners have been onboarded 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. Digitization of manuscripts has been undertaken, on pan-India basis, through onboarded States and Union Territories (UTs), centers, universities, libraries, museums, temples, mutts etc. using standardized protocols, creation of metadata and integration into National Digital Repository (NDR), enabling long-term preservation and public accessibility. More than 8 lakh digitized manuscripts in different formats such as DVD, HDD, microfilms are available across the country including the subsumed National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM).

(d) AI-assisted Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) plays a transformative role in making ancient manuscripts searchable for researchers as it converts images of manuscripts into machine-readable and searchable digital text to facilitate improved readability, indexing and searchability of these manuscripts.

(e) More than 8 lakh digitized manuscripts in different formats such as DVD, HDD, microfilms are available across the country, out of which, 1.29 lakh manuscripts are accessible, at present, in view mode, to the public on the Gyan Bharatam Portal i.e. https://gyanbharatam.com.

(f) Private collectors are encouraged through outreach and awareness mechanisms to facilitate sharing and digitisation of their manuscripts. However, there is no provision under GBM to incentivize private collectors for this purpose.

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