In News:

The Union Budget 2025–26 announced the launch of the Gyan Bharatam Mission, a significant cultural initiative aimed at the survey, documentation, digitization, and conservation of over one crore manuscripts across India.

Key Details:

• A special national mission focusing on India’s manuscript heritage preserved in:
  • Academic institutions
  • Libraries
  • Museums
  • Private collections
• Objective:
  To document and conserve more than one crore manuscripts, centralize them into a national digital repository, and make them accessible to researchers, students, and institutions globally.
• Significance:
  • Facilitates knowledge-sharing through digitization.
  • Promotes India's traditional knowledge systems.
  • Enhances academic and historical research in the Indian knowledge domain.

What is a Manuscript?

• A manuscript is a handwritten composition on materials such as:
  • Palm leaf, paper, cloth, bark, or metal.
• Must be at least 75 years old and possess scientific, historical, or aesthetic value.
• Printed texts and lithographs are not considered manuscripts.
• Manuscripts may exist in hundreds of languages and scripts, e.g.:
  • Sanskrit manuscripts written in Devanagari, Grantha, Oriya, and other scripts.
• Unlike epigraphs or official records (firmans, revenue documents), manuscripts hold knowledge content, not just historical data.

National Manuscripts Mission (NMM)

• Launched in 2003 under the Ministry of Culture, operated through the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA).
• Mandate: Identify, preserve, and make accessible India's manuscript wealth.
• Revival: The 2025–26 Budget seeks to rejuvenate NMM to implement the Gyan Bharatam Mission effectively.

Budgetary Provisions

• NMM allocation increased from ?3.5 crore to ?60 crore for FY 2025–26.
• Culture Ministry overall allocation:
  • ?3,360.96 crore, up from a revised estimate of ?3,260.93 crore.
• Other Key Allocations:
  • Archaeological Survey of India (ASI): ?1,278.49 crore
  • National Libraries and Archives: ?156.55 crore
  • Museums (National Museum, NGMA): ?126.63 crore
• Note: Allocations for centenary events, cultural collaborations have been reduced.