GYAN BHARAT MISSION

• The Gyan Bharatam Mission is a nationwide initiative focused on preserving, digitising, and promoting India’s extensive manuscript heritage, bridging the gap between age-old traditions and modern technology for future generations.
• The programme has been sanctioned a budget of ₹482.85 crore for the period 2024–31, and already, more than 44.07 lakh manuscripts have been catalogued in the Kriti Sampada digital repository.
• The Gyan Bharatam Conference, serving as the first international forum under this initiative, brought together scholars, policymakers, and cultural custodians from across India to deliberate on strategies for manuscript conservation and digitisation.
• The event witnessed the participation of over 1,400 youth and 500 delegates, reflecting the growing commitment of India’s younger generation towards safeguarding its intellectual legacy.
• Leveraging advanced digital technologies and AI tools, the Mission aims to make India’s manuscript heritage accessible to a global audience. For centuries, India’s civilization has been a cradle of knowledge — from gurukuls that nurtured generations of thinkers to ancient universities like Nalanda and Takshashila, which attracted scholars from across the world.
• These traditions, preserved through manuscripts, monuments, and cultural practices, continue to define India’s intellectual identity.
• Envisioned as both a tribute to India’s civilisational wisdom and a forward-looking national movement, the Gyan Bharatam Mission aligns with the Prime Minister’s vision of “Viksit Bharat 2047” — aspiring to establish India as a true Vishwa Guru, blending the timeless wisdom of its past with the innovative spirit of its future

3. Vision and Objectives of Bharat Mission

• India’s rich cultural and intellectual tradition finds expression in its vast repository of manuscripts—estimated to exceed five million works.
• These invaluable texts encompass a wide array of disciplines including philosophy, science, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, literature, arts, architecture, and spirituality.
• Composed in diverse scripts and languages, they are preserved across temples, monasteries, Jaina Bhandāras, archives, libraries, and private collections, forming an extraordinary testament to the Bhāratīya Jñāna Paramparā (Indian Knowledge Systems).
• Together, they highlight the unbroken continuity of India’s civilisational thought and learning traditions.
• The Gyan Bharatam Mission provides a comprehensive framework to revitalise and promote this manuscript legacy by integrating preservation, digitisation, research, and global outreach. The Mission’s vision extends beyond conservation — it seeks to transform manuscripts into living sources of education, cultural identity, and scholarly innovation

• A manuscript refers to any handwritten work created on materials such as palm leaves, birch bark, fabric, paper, or even metal, that is at least seventy-five years old and possesses significant historical, intellectual, scientific, or artistic importance.
• Unlike printed texts or administrative documents, manuscripts preserve the essence of human knowledge across diverse fields — including philosophy, medicine, astronomy, literature, and the arts.
• They exist in hundreds of Indian and regional languages, written in numerous scripts, with certain languages appearing in multiple scripts — for example, Sanskrit written in Devanagari, Oriya, and Grantha forms.
• Recognising the need to safeguard this vast intellectual heritage, the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) was established in 2003 as a dedicated national repository to protect and promote India’s manuscript wealth. Since its inception, NMM has played a pivotal role in conserving and documenting the nation’s traditional knowledge systems.

• The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 serves as a strong foundation for the Gyan Bharatam Mission, sharing its vision of nurturing India’s cultural and intellectual roots.
• By advocating instruction in the mother tongue or regional language up to at least Grade 5, NEP 2020 enhances conceptual understanding while ensuring that children remain connected to India’s linguistic, cultural, and civilisational identity.
• The policy further underscores the promotion of Indian languages, arts, and heritage, recognising the importance of reviving traditions and conserving cultural knowledge for future generations. This approach directly complements the Gyan Bharatam Mission’s objective of preserving manuscripts as living repositories of India’s ancient wisdom and intellectual continuity.
• A transformative aspect of NEP 2020 is its formal inclusion of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) into mainstream curricula — enabling students to engage with India’s contributions in science, philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and literature.
• This integration aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of empowering youth to act as custodians of heritage, combining traditional insights with technological and scientific innovation.
• Together, NEP 2020 and the Gyan Bharatam Mission aim to transform India’s timeless wisdom into the foundation of a modern and progressive future