Why In News?

A Parliamentary Standing Committee has flagged the Gyan Bharatam Mission's slow progress, noting only 7.5 lakh of a targeted 1 crore manuscripts have been digitised.

What is the Gyan Bharatam Mission?

It is a national initiative launched by the Ministry of Culture to survey, document, conserve, digitise, and disseminate India’s vast manuscript heritage. 

Announced in the Union Budget 2025–26, the program has been structured as a Central Sector Scheme spanning from 2024 to 2031 with an approved financial outlay of ₹482.85 crore (recently sanctioned up to ₹491.66 crore by the Standing Finance Committee).  

Key Objectives & Targets

  • Mass Digitization: Digitise and catalogue over 1 crore manuscripts across India.  

  • National Digital Repository (NDR): Establishing a centralised, globally accessible digital archive hosted on the official Gyan Bharatam Portal.  

  • Tech Integration: Deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR), and blockchain for smart text transcription, multi-lingual translation, and provenance tracking.  

Strategic Pillars of Implementation

The mission operates across a "Five Pillars" framework executed via a grid of regional Cluster Centres (CCs) and Independent Centres (ICs):  

  1. Survey and Cataloguing: Creating a geo-tagged national inventory to draft a comprehensive "Manuscript Presence Map".  

  2. Conservation and Capacity Building: Establishing specialized labs for fragile mediums (palm leaves, birch bark, parchment) and raising a grassroots volunteer network called “Pandulipi Mitras”.  

  3. Technology and Digitization: Scaling up high-resolution imaging and utilizing AI-driven tools to decipher archaic scripts (including exploratory research on the Indus Valley script). 

  4. Linguistics and Translation: Promoting structural academic translation of classical sciences, arts, and philosophy into contemporary languages. 

  5. Research, Outreach, and Publication: Re-integrating traditional scholarship into schools and universities while raising awareness via "Manuscript Melas".  

The 4-Stage Survey Framework

  • Stage 1: Crowdsourced identification and digital logging to map presence.

  • Stage 2: Physical validation by state authorities and appointed experts.

  • Stage 3: Detailed metadata curation (script, language, period, and domain).

  • Stage 4: Scientific conservation and final high-quality archival digitisation.

Significance

  • Preservation of Knowledge Base: Ancient manuscripts act as primary source repositories detailing India's historic advancements in mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy, medicine (Ayurveda), and statecraft.

  • Constitutional Mandate: The mission aligns with Article 51A(f) of the Constitution, which marks it as a Fundamental Duty to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture. 

  • Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS): It fulfills a core directive of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 by translating and making indigenous knowledge streams pedagogically accessible.

  • Digital India Convergence: It mirrors digital-public infrastructure scaling models (like UPI or DIKSHA) by converting dynamic cultural assets into open-access cloud data.  

  • Soft Power Expansion: Aligns with international benchmarks like the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme to solidify India's footprint as a global intellectual and cultural node ("Vishwa Guru").  

 

 

 

Source: THEHINDU

 

 

 

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. Consider the following statements regarding the Gyan Bharatam Mission:

  1. It aims to digitise one crore manuscripts.

  2. It was announced in the Union Budget 2025-26.

  3. Digitised manuscripts are hosted on the National Digital Repository.

Which of the statements given above are correct? 

(a) 1 and 2 only 

(b) 2 and 3 only 

(c) 1 and 3 only 

(d) 1, 2 and 3 

Answer: (d)

Explanation:

Statement 1 is correct: The Gyan Bharatam Mission aims to target, cover, and digitise over one crore (10 million) manuscripts to preserve India's extensive literary and intellectual heritage.

Statement 2 is correct: The mission was officially introduced and announced by the Government of India during the Union Budget 2025-26.

Statement 3 is correct: A core objective of the initiative is to establish a centralized National Digital Repository (or National Digital Repository of Indian Knowledge Systems) to securely host the digitised manuscripts and provide global access to researchers and students.