Gyan Bharatam Mission and Preservation of Manuscript Heritage

The Gyan Bharatam Mission (GBM), announced in the Union Budget 2025‑26, is a Ministry of Culture initiative to digitise, document and preserve India’s manuscript heritage. It seeks to use advanced technology for large‑scale digitisation, conduct a nationwide survey and registration of manuscripts, create a National Digital Repository, and promote scholarly access through publications. The Standing Finance Committee has approved Rs 491.66 crore for 2025‑31. The National Manuscript Survey launched in March 2026 reported over 1.19 crore manuscripts, with more than 8 lakh digitised and 4.40 lakh available on the GBM portal. Institutional mechanisms involve Cluster and Independent Centres and state nodal authorities.