Government Signs Agreements to Digitize 10 Million Manuscripts Under Gyan Bharatam
Gyan Bharatam: The Ministry of Culture signed MoUs with 17 centres, 12 groups, and five independent centres under the Gyan Bharatam initiative to promote manuscript preservation, archiving, and dissemination. Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, Vivek Aggarwal, were also present at the ceremony.
The Central Government signed an agreement with 17 institutions for the digitization of manuscripts under Gyan Bharatam. Union Tourism and Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said work will be undertaken to digitize and conserve more than 10 million manuscripts within a period of five years. Although there is a time frame to preserve this rich cultural and historical heritage of the nation, quality cannot be sacrificed.
A national digital archive will be created in addition to manuscript preservation. Digitization and preservation of manuscripts are on schedule, but not at the cost of quality. In the initial phase, 17 institutions, including 12 states and five institutions, signed an agreement with the Union Ministry of Culture at an event held at the National Museum of Modern Art in Delhi.
In the next phase, other states and institutions will be included. These include the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan Prayagraj, Nagari Pracharini Sabha Varanasi, Abhay Jain Granthalaya Bikaner, Sanatan Trust Tirupati, Anand Ashram Trust Pune, Himachal State Museum Shimla, Central Institute of Buddhist Studies Leh, Nakshatra Vaidyashaala Devprayag, Vrindavan Research Institute Vrindavan, Nava Nalanda Mahavir Nalanda, Dr. S.S. Gaud University Sagar, Assam University Silchar, and the Aesthetic Society Kolkata.
This event comes more than a month after the three-day Global Indian Manuscripts Conference held at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In his address at the event, Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that this is not just another singing festival, but a step towards expanding the ministry's family, which has taken on this important mission. The Union Minister said, "At the Gyan Bharatam conference, I said that this mission will serve as a bridge between our heritage and our future. By 2047, India will be economically and militarily strong, but cultural heritage, and especially manuscript heritage, will play a crucial role in the glorious India that will be built."
