Gyan Bharatam Mission (GBM), announced during Union Budget 2025-26, is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Culture (MoC), Government of India to undertake manuscripts related activities under various components including survey and registration of manuscripts, building robust technology infrastructure and partnership, documentation, preservation, conservation, digitization, publication of manuscripts and capacity building & research.

The steps envisaged under GBM to safeguard India's manuscript heritage includes onboarding of institutions making conservation of manuscripts an integral activity there through preventive and curative methods, establishment and upgradation of conservation laboratories in the onboarded institutions, conducting capacity building programs, workshops and hands-on training etc.

Recently, two-day conservation workshop was successfully concluded at National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh from 12^th - 13^th February, 2026 with participation of more than 40 participants from the institutions onboarded with GBM. Technical partners have been onboarded for various functions including metadata creation and its integration on National Digital Repository (NDR), deployment of equipments, AI-integrated digital platform and long-term data storage.

More than 8 lakh digitized manuscripts in different formats such as DVD, HDD, microfilms are available across the country, out of which, 1.29 lakh manuscripts are accessible, in view mode, to the public on the Gyan Bharatam Portal.

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

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