Gyan Bharatam Portal

Syllabus: GS1/Culture

In News:

• PM launched the Gyan Bharatam Portal at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

Background

• India has one of the world’s largest collections of manuscripts, estimated at over 5 million, spread across museums, libraries, monasteries, temples, private collections.

Earlier initiatives:

• National Mission for Manuscripts (2003) under Ministry of Culture.
• Digital Library of India Project (IITs + IISc, 2000s).
• UNESCO has also recognized manuscripts (e.g., Rigveda, Gilgit Manuscripts) under Memory of the World Programme.

About the Portal:

• Developed under the Gyan Bharatam Mission (2024–31), a Central Sector Scheme.

Focus Areas:

• Survey & Documentation: Identifying manuscripts in public/private domains.
• Digitisation & Conservation: Use of AI tools for multilingual search, annotation, restoration.
• Research & Publication: Facilitating scholars to study Vedas, Ayurveda, astronomy, philosophy.
• Capacity Building: Training conservators & manuscriptologists.
• Public Access: Open portal for students, teachers, global researchers.
• Linked with NEP 2020: integration of indigenous knowledge into curriculum.

Significance:

• Cultural: Protects fragile manuscripts from decay.
• Educational: Facilitates interdisciplinary studies, bridges ancient wisdom with modern science.
• Strategic: Enhances India’s soft power, similar to how China uses Confucius Institutes.
• Technological: Showcases AI for heritage preservation.

Global Context

• Europe’s Europeana Project digitizes cultural heritage.
• China has a National Ancient Books Protection Project.
• India’s effort can become the largest digital manuscript repository in Asia.

Do You Know?

• The Tropic of Cancer (23°30′N) passes close to New Delhi (launch venue).
• Bakhshali Manuscript (found in Pakistan, now at Oxford) is one of the oldest texts using “zero”.