Gyan Bharatam Mission launches nationwide survey to map India’s manuscript heritage

Key facts

• Ministry of Culture (MoC) will conduct a three-month nationwide survey from Monday to map India’s manuscript heritage.
• Survey teams will identify manuscripts in institutions, private collections and with individual custodians starting at district level.
• Discovered manuscripts will be geotagged and uploaded in real time through the Gyan Bharatam mobile application.
• The mission aims to create a consolidated database and national digital repository on the Gyan Bharatam Mission central portal.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Gyan Bharatam Mission in the Union Budget 2025–26 and described it as the proclamation of India's culture, literature and consciousness.
• State and district-level committees chaired by chief secretaries and district magistrates have been set up to oversee the survey.
• Existing digitised collections exceeding one million manuscripts held by institutions and state governments will be integrated into the central platform.