Description

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Picture Courtesy: INDIANEXPRESS

Context

The Ministry of Culture to host first-ever International Manuscript Heritage Conference titled ‘Reclaiming India’s Knowledge Legacy Through Manuscript Heritage’ from 11-13th September 2025.

International Manuscript Heritage Conference

The conference bring together scholars, historians, manuscript experts, and cultural practitioners from across the world to explore, preserve, and promote India’s Manuscript Heritage.

What is Manuscript?

Manuscripts are created by hand on materials like paper, birch bark, palm leaves, cloth, or metal. These texts must date back at least 75 years and hold scientific, historical, or aesthetic value.

Examples: The Bakhshali manuscript, from the 3rd-4th century CE on birch bark, solves math problems and features the earliest dot for zero, revolutionizing numbers.
Exclusions: Lithographs (stone-drawn images transferred to paper) and printed books do not qualify.
Themes: Manuscripts cover history, religion, literature, astrology, and farming practices.

India holds 10 million manuscripts in 80 scripts like Brahmi, Kushan, and Maithili, with 75% in Sanskrit and 25% in regional languages. They form the "memory of the world," preserving knowledge that shaped global math, medicine, and philosophy.

Initiatives taken by India for Conservation of Manuscript

Gyan Bharatam Mission (GBM)

Announced in Union Budget 2025-26, it replaces the National Manuscripts Mission (NMM) from 2003.

It surveys and conserves over 10 million manuscripts, creates a National Digital Repository for global access, and uses AI for transcription.

National Manuscripts Mission (NMM)

Under the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), 5.2 million manuscripts are documented, it also trains experts and builds conservation centers.

What Challenges Hinder Preservation?

Scale and Documentation Gaps: Only 5.2 million of 10 million manuscripts are documented; 80% ownership in private hands, complicating access. Rural sources remain unknown.

Environmental Threats: High humidity in coastal areas and disasters like floods speed decay—90% of palm-leaf texts face rot without climate control.

Skill Shortages: Few experts read 80 scripts; training lags.

Legal hurdles: Private owners resist sharing

Way Forward for India

Ramp Up Digitization: Use AI like inpainting algorithms to fix damage, as in China's Dunhuang project.

Build Infrastructure: Set up more Manuscript Conservation Centres with climate control; train experts via workshops.

Resolve Legal Barriers: Enact policies for private access.

Boost Funding and Tech: Allocate more funding to integrate technologies like 3D printing.

Engage Globally: Partner with G20 for standards; use social media for public awareness, like Incredible India campaigns.

Source: INDIANEXPRESS

PRACTICE QUESTION

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

It is an initiative of the Ministry of Education.
Its objective is to digitise over one crore manuscripts.
It has replaced the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM).

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

A) 1 only

B) 2 and 3 only

C) 1 and 2 only

D) 1, 2, and 3

Answer: B

Explanation:

Statement 1 is Incorrect: The mission is under the Ministry of Culture.

Statement 2 is Correct: The mission aims to digitise over one crore manuscripts.

Statement 3 is Correct: Gyan Bharatam is a revamped version of the NMM.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

It is the restructured version of the National Manuscripts Mission (NMM), renamed to “Gyan Bharatam Mission,” for survey, documentation, conservation, digitization and wider dissemination of India’s manuscript heritage.

The Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

It was announced in the Union Budget 2025–26.