New Delhi

Over 7.5 lakh manuscripts have been digitised under the Gyan Bharatam initiative, with 1.29 lakh manuscripts currently available on its dedicated portal, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Announced in the Union Budget 2025-26, Gyan Bharatam is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Culture aimed at identifying, safeguarding and preserving India’s vast manuscript heritage.

“Aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, the initiative seeks to harmonise cultural preservation with human capital development, ensuring that India’s ancient wisdom continues to inspire generations to come. To support the initiative, the Standing Finance Committee has sanctioned Rs 491.66 crore for the period 2025–2031,” Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said in a written reply.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Nationalist Congress Party–Sharadchandra Pawar leader Amar Sharadrao Kale had sought details of institutions that have signed or are scheduled to sign MoUs under the Gyan Bharatam mission, including their classification as cluster centres or independent centres, and the number of partner institutions assigned to each cluster centre.

Responding to the query, Shekhawat said 45 centres — 28 cluster centres and 17 independent centres — across various states and Union Territories have been onboarded so far to carry out activities under the Gyan Bharatam initiative.

Further, 20 states and Union Territories have been onboarded as nodal coordinating authorities for the implementation of the initiative within their respective jurisdictions, he added.

A detailed manual on preservation and conservation has been prepared and shared with conservation experts for feedback. A dedicated survey application has also been developed and circulated among stakeholders for inputs, the minister said.

The Ministry of Culture hosted a three-day international conference titled ‘Gyan Bharatam’ on India’s manuscript heritage in September last year. On the second day of the conference, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Gyan Bharatam portal, a digital repository designed to accelerate the digitisation and preservation of ancient Indian manuscripts and enhance access to traditional knowledge.

Reiterating the progress made, Shekhawat said, “More than 7.5 lakh manuscripts have been digitised under Gyan Bharatam, out of which 1.29 lakh manuscripts are available on the Gyan Bharatam portal.”

The minister also provided a state-wise list of the 45 centres onboarded under the two categories.

Among the 28 cluster centres are Nava Nalanda Mahavihar, Nalanda, and Patna Museum, Patna in Bihar; University Library, Jamia Hamdard, and Central Sanskrit University in Delhi; Shruta Ratnakara, Ahmedabad, and Oriental Institute, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara in Gujarat; and The Asiatic Society, Kolkata in West Bengal.

The 17 independent centres include Sanatan Jeevan Trust, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh; Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Varanasi, and Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh; Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Pune in Maharashtra; and Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute, Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

Shekhawat said technical partners have been onboarded for basic-level metadata creation, integration with the National Digital Repository (NDR) and for enabling global accessibility of manuscripts through the NDR.

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Additionally, partners have been engaged for the deployment of scanners and digitisation equipment across designated centres and for developing a fully functional, AI-integrated digital platform and mobile application, the minister added.