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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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