The Ministry of Culture's Gyan Bharatam Mission, announced during Union Budget 2025-26, has received ₹491.66 crore funding approval from the Standing Finance Committee for the period 2025-2031. This pan-India initiative aims to preserve India's manuscript heritage through comprehensive manuscript-related activities.
The mission has seven key objectives: leveraging advanced technology to enhance digitization pace, conducting survey and registration of manuscripts, documenting and cataloging Indian manuscripts worldwide, facilitating usage and access through publications, promoting conservation through training and financial support, boosting scholarship in Indian languages and manuscriptology, and building a National Digital Repository.
A National Manuscript Survey launched in March 2026 across all States and Union Territories has identified over 1.19 crore manuscripts. Currently, over 8 lakh manuscripts have been digitized nationwide, with more than 4.40 lakh manuscripts available for public access in view mode on the Gyan Bharatam portal, accessible state-wise.
The mission has established an institutional mechanism through Cluster Centres and Independent Centres involving universities, research institutions, libraries, archives, private custodians, religious institutions, and other stakeholders. States and Union Territories serve as Nodal Coordinating Authorities for implementation within their jurisdictions.
Access to digitized manuscripts is provided in accordance with custodians' and rights holders' permissions, with sensitive or restricted materials subject to appropriate access conditions. Three institutions in Bihar - Nava Nalanda Mahavihar (Nalanda), Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library (Patna), and Shri Bodh Gaya Math (Bodh Gaya) - have onboarded with GBM to undertake manuscript-related activities.
Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat provided this information in a written reply in Lok Sabha.