The Gyan Bharatam Mission is a national initiative launched by the Ministry of Culture to locate, conserve, digitise, and disseminate India’s vast manuscript heritage. Building upon the earlier National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), it employs advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital repositories to preserve ancient knowledge. The Mission aims to survey over one crore manuscripts, create a National Digital Repository, and involve both private and public institutions to make India’s textual heritage widely accessible.
The Gyan Bharatam Mission is a centrally sponsored scheme announced in the Union Budget 2025–26. It seeks to survey, document, conserve, and digitise India’s manuscripts to make them available in accessible digital formats for researchers, students, and the public.
The Ministry of Culture is the nodal authority implementing the Mission through the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), which earlier managed the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM).
The Gyan Bharatam Mission expands upon the NMM (launched in 2003) by introducing large-scale digitisation, advanced technologies, public-private partnerships, and enhanced outreach to private manuscript collectors. It aims to integrate traditional conservation with modern digital preservation techniques.
The Mission has multiple goals designed to protect and promote India’s manuscript heritage:
• Conduct a nationwide survey of manuscripts in libraries, museums, temples, and private collections.
• Document, catalogue, and conserve manuscripts using scientific methods.
• Digitise manuscripts and create a National Digital Repository for Indian Knowledge Systems.
• Train conservators, palaeographers, and digitisation specialists.
• Promote public awareness of India’s manuscript heritage.
The scheme will run from 2024 to 2031 with an allocation of about ₹482.85 crore. It aims to cover more than one crore manuscripts across the country, marking one of the largest heritage documentation drives in India’s history.
India’s manuscripts embody centuries of accumulated wisdom in philosophy, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, literature, and art. They represent the continuity of intellectual and cultural traditions and play a vital role in preserving India’s civilizational identity.
Advanced AI-driven tools will assist in text recognition, metadata creation, and digital preservation. Cloud-based systems will ensure secure, long-term storage and easy public access to manuscripts. This approach bridges the gap between heritage conservation and digital innovation.
Participation is open to public institutions, universities, museums, private collectors, researchers, and technology partners. Collaboration may include sharing manuscripts, providing technical expertise, or supporting conservation and training programs.
A national digital platform called ‘Kriti Sampada’ will serve as the centralised database for digitised manuscripts. Over 44 lakh manuscripts have already been documented, and more will be added as part of the Mission’s expansion.
Key challenges include preservation in humid tropical conditions, scattered private collections, diverse scripts and languages, and a shortage of trained conservation professionals. Capacity building and collaboration will be crucial to address these issues effectively.
The Mission links cultural preservation with digital governance and education reform. It promotes Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) and strengthens heritage management within India’s development policy framework — making it highly relevant for civil services, policy, and governance studies.
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