Parliament Question: National Mission for Manuscripts

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1278 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.07.2026 National Mission for Manuscripts 1278. Shri Baijayant Panda: Shri Murasoli S: Will the Minister of CULTURE be pleased to state: (a) the current status of implementation of the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) across the country, including the details of manuscript surveys conducted and digitisation undertaken during the last five years and the current year; (b) whether the Government has conducted any evaluation or review of the Mission with regard to institutional capacity, regional coverage and utilisation of allocated funds; (c) if so, the key findings thereof; and (d) the details of the extent of coverage along with progress of the National Mission for Manuscripts in Odisha for preservation of Manuscripts from repositories in Tamil Nadu including Thanjavur district, particularly in the Saraswathi Mahal Library, along with the number of manuscripts identified, conserved and digitised, institutional partners involved and funds released thereon during the said period? ANSWER MINISTER OF CULTURE AND TOURISM (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT) (a) Government has launched Gyan Bharatam Mission, subsuming erstwhile National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), 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.National Manuscript Survey was launched in March, 2026 across all States and Union Territories of the country to identify and document manuscript holdings, repositories and custodians representing diverse languages and scripts.During the survey, more than 1.19 crore manuscripts have been reported.The total number of digitized manuscripts available across the country is over 8 lakh, out of which, more than 3.90 lakh manuscripts are available on Gyan Bharatam portal at present for public access in view mode.(b) & (c) Gyan Bharatam, is a Pan-India initiative covering cataloguing, conservation, digitization and publication of manuscripts identified across the country. For effective implementation, a framework of Cluster Centres and Independent Centres has been envisaged. These centres are provided financial assistance in form of grant-in-aid to undertake manuscript related activities as elaborated above. States / UTs have also been onboarded to act as the Nodal Coordinating Authority for the mission’s implementation and review within the State / UT concerned. Financial support to the States / UTs and their repositories is considered on case-to-case basisand in accordance with the applicableframework, operational requirements and availability of funds. (d) Under the Gyan Bharatam Mission, two centers located in Odisha namely SARASVATI, Bhadrak (Sanskrit Academy of Research for Advanced Society Through Vedic and Allied Tradition of India) and the Department of Sanskrit, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar have been onboarded. During the National Manuscript Survey, 78,056 manuscripts have been reported from Odisha. Further, 800 manuscripts have been conserved and 848 manuscripts digitized. Grant to the tune of Rs.28 Lakh has been released to SARASVATI, Bhadrak, Odisha in February, 2026 to carry out manuscript related activities. So far as Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu is concerned, out of the total 1,41,652 manuscripts reported in Tamil Nadu, 47,496 manuscripts have been reported from the Saraswathi Mahal Library, Thanjavur during the National Manuscript Survey. *****