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Context:

The Government set to relaunch the National Manuscript Mission to preserve ancient texts and enhance manuscript digitization and access.

About National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM)

It was launched in 2003 by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts as the executing body.

Its main objective is to survey, discover, and protect manuscripts in order to create a national resource database, which will improve access to these resources, promote awareness of their importance, and promote their use in education and research.

About Manuscript

A manuscript is a handwritten record, created on materials like paper, palm leaves, cloth, or even metal. To qualify as a manuscript, it must be at least 75 years old and hold meaningful scientific, historical, or aesthetic value. Manuscripts mainly contain knowledge rather than direct historical events.

Objectives

The mission restores and conserves manuscripts that are old or damaged, assuring they can be used by future generations. By digitizing manuscripts, it makes it easier for people to access these texts online. This digital archive is known as Kritisampada, which serves as the National Database of Manuscripts.

It also organizes workshops and training sessions to educate people about manuscript conservation techniques.

National Culture Fund

The National Culture Fund (NCF) was established in 1996 under the Charitable Endowment Act of 1890 to assemble resources through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to promote and preserve India’s cultural heritage. The accounts of the NCF are audited annually by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

Achievements of the NMM

The NMM has made considerable progress over the years, it has created metadata for 5.2 million manuscripts and digitized about 300,000 titles. Approximately 75% of these manuscripts are in Sanskrit, the remaining 25% are in various regional languages.

However, only a third of these have been made publicly available online. There have been several issues, including differences have been found between the digitized data and the actual manuscripts, leading to a massive effort to correct these errors manually.

Challenges

One major concern is access. Out of the 130,000 manuscripts uploaded, only 70,000 are viewable, this is mainly due to a lack of an access policy, indicating there’s low motivation for private owners to share their manuscripts. In India, around 80% of manuscripts belong to private individuals, making it important to find ways to engage them.

Recent Updates

The Indian government plans to revive the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM). Presently, the NMM works under the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, but there are plans to form a new autonomous body, likely called the National Manuscripts Authority. This new entity will be set up under the Ministry of Culture.

The NMM seeks to collaborate with universities (domestic and foreign) that focus on ancient Indian studies. Establishing special chairs at these institutions could help bridge the gap between academia and the mission’s goals.

Discussions are ongoing about the need for legal expertise in the group to tackle issues like manuscript sales outside of India.

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Source:

The Hindu