Gyan Bharatam, announced during Union Budget 2025-26, is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Culture (MoC), Government of India aimed at unearthing, safeguarding and preserving India’s vast manuscript heritage.  Aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, the initiative seeks to harmonize 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 (SFC) has sanctioned Rs.491.66 crore for the period 2025-2031. This initiative focuses on five verticals namely (i) Survey and Cataloguing (ii) Conservation and Capacity Building (iii) Technology and Digitization (iv) Linguistics and Translation (v) Research, Publication, and Outreach.

Gyan Bharatam has been mandated to establish a nation-wide network of Cluster Centers (CCs) and Independent Centers (ICs) across the country. A list of CCs and ICs onboarded so far is annexed.

 More than 7.5 Lakh manuscripts have been digitized under Gyan Bharatam, out of which, 1.29 Lakh manuscripts are available on Gyan Bharatam Portal i.e. https://gyanbharatam.com.

(The Key technical and quality standards and metadata protocols for digitization and cataloguing of manuscripts are:

1.   Strict imaging norms to ensure preservation and high-quality digital outputs.

2. Minimum 400 DPI, 24-bit colour scanning (600 DPI where required) using non-destructive face-up overhead scanners with cold light.
3. Mandatory image post-processing includes de-skewing, cropping, light equalization, and the removal of digital “noise” like worm-marks or stain-marks while maintaining color integrity and 100% manual quality verification.
4. Master files in TIFF v 6.0 (LZW compressed); access copies in JPEG; searchable copies in PDF/A with indelible watermark.
5. Long-term storage through LTO-9 tapes with cloud-based backup and disaster recovery.
6. Building a fully functional, AI-integrated digital platform and mobile application.
7. Metadata Capture levels: Descriptive metadata (content), Structural metadata (navigation), Technical metadata, Administrative metadata-incorporating manuscript content details, details on original source, institutional details, locative region, language, script, conservation status, date of creation, version of digital object, file format used, compression technology used, object relationship, etc.
8. Metadata supplied in CSV and XML formats with each digitization batch.

  Following measures have been taken in this regard:

(i)    45 Centers have been onboarded so far to carry out the activities outlined under Gyan Bhatamam initiative on aforesaid five verticals.

(ii)    20 States / UTs have also been onboarded so far to act as the Nodal Coordinating Authority for Gyan Bharatam implementation within the State / UT concerned.

(iii)   A detailed manual on preservation and conservation has also been framed and shared with esteemed conservation experts for feedback.

(iv)    Survey app has been developed and shared with stakeholders for feedback.

(v)     Technical partners have been on boarded for:

• Basic level metadata creation and its integration on National Digital Repository (NDR) and to facilitate integration of manuscripts and its metadata for global accessibility via NDR.
• Deployment of scanners & equipments to be deployed across designated centres for digitization of manuscripts.
• Building a fully functional, AI-integrated digital platform and mobile application.
• Providing continuous hot, cold, cloud-based storage hosting, backup and security support.
• Data storage using LTO-9 tape for long term archival and disaster recovery management.

 

This information was given by Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a written reply in Lok Sabha today

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M Annadurai

Annexure

 

Cluster Centres (28)
S. No	State	Organization Name
1	Assam	Dept. of Sanskrit,  Assam University, Silchar
2	Bihar	Nava Nalanda Mahavihar, Nalanda
3		Patna Musuem, Patna
4	Delhi	University Library  Jamia Hamdard
5		Central Sanskrit University
6	Gujarat	Shruta Ratnakara, Ahmedabad
7		Oriental Institute, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara
8	Himachal Pradesh	Himachal State Museum,  Shimla
9	J & K	Dept. of Persian,  University of Kashmir, Srinagar
10		Shasvat Art Gallery Jammu
11	Karnataka	Samskriti Foundation, Mysuru
12		Oriental Research Institute, Mysuru
13	Kerala	Oriental Research Institute & Manuscript Library, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram
14	Ladakh	Central Institute of Buddhist Studies,  Leh
15	Manipur	Manipur State Archives
16	Madhya Pradesh	Department of Sanskrit, Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar
17	Maharashtra	Kavi Kulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit University, Nagpur
18		Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune
19	Odisha	SARASVATI Bhadrak
20		Department of Sanskrit, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar
21	Rajasthan	Rajasthan Sanskrit Academy, Jaipur
22		Vishwa Gurudeep Ashram Shodha Sansthan, Jaipur
23	Sikkim	Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok
24	Telangana	Telangana State  Archives & Research Institute, Hyderabad
25	Uttar Pradesh	Vrindavan Research Institute, Vrindavan
26	Uttarakhand	Shri Laxmidhar Acharya Chakradhar Joshi Vidyamandir Shodh Sansthan (SLACJVMSS), Nakshatra Vedhshala,  Devprayag
27		University of Patanjali
28	West Bengal	The Asiatic Society, Kolkata

 

 

Independent Centres (17)
1	Andhra Pradesh	Sanatan Jeevan Trust, Tirupati
2	Bihar	Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library,  Patna
3		Bodh Gaya Math, Gaya
4	Gujarat	Adhyatma Parivar Trust, Surat
5	Haryana	Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra
6	Karnataka	Tara Prakashan Vedic Library & Research Centre, Bangaluru
7	Kerala	Sevadhi Museum & Ideological Research Institute, Kottayam
8		Chinmaya International Foundation, Ernakulam
9	Maharashtra	Anandashram Samsthan, Pune
10		Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal Sadashiv Peth, Pune
11	Madhya Pradesh	Anekant Gyan Mandir Bina
12		Scindia Oriental Research Institute, Ujjain
13	Rajasthan	Abhay Jain Granthalaya, Bikaner
14		Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute, Jodhpur
15		Padmashri Narayan Das Pandulipi Shodh Sansthan, Jaipur
16	Uttar Pradesh	Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Varanasi
17		Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Prayagraj

 

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