Why in News?
The Ministry of Culture is signing MoUs with nearly 50 institutions across India under the Gyan Bharatam Mission to systematically preserve, digitise, and promote ancient manuscripts.
Background
India has one of the world’s largest manuscript traditions – Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Tamil, Persian, Arabic, etc.
Themes include literature, philosophy, Ayurveda, astronomy, mathematics, law, and governance.
Manuscripts are scattered across monasteries, mathas, libraries, and private collections.
Many manuscripts face decay and damage due to environmental exposure, ageing, and lack of preservation standards.
What is Gyan Bharatam Mission?
The mission’s flagship output → National Digital Repository (NDR)
→ India’s largest online manuscript knowledge archive.
Key Focus Areas (6 Thematic Verticals)
- Survey & Cataloguing
- Conservation & Capacity Building
- Technology & Digitisation
- Linguistics & Translation
- Research & Publication
- Outreach & Public Awareness
Why It Matters for Governance & GS Paper II / I
✔ Preservation of intangible heritage
✔ Knowledge-to-policy connection
✔ Academic rediscovery of Indic thought
✔ Cross-cultural research collaboration