Reviving India’s National Mission for Manuscripts

 he Union Ministry of Culture in India is revitalizing the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM). This initiative aims to preserve ancient texts and manuscripts. A new autonomous body, likely named the National Manuscripts Authority, is proposed to enhance these efforts. The NMM currently operates under the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.

Meeting Overview

On October 14, an important meeting took place. Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat chaired the session. Experts from various fields attended, including linguists and scholars. They discussed the future of the NMM and its accomplishments since its inception in 2003.

Achievements of NMM

The NMM has made notable progress. It has compiled metadata for 5.2 million manuscripts. Additionally, over 300,000 titles have been digitized. However, only one-third of these digitized works are accessible online. This limited access raises concerns about the visibility of India’s rich manuscript heritage.

Challenges Identified

Experts brought into light issues with the digitized metadata. There are discrepancies between the data and the actual manuscripts. Efforts are underway to correct these mismatches. A senior NMM official revealed that out of 130,000 uploaded manuscripts, only 70,000 are viewable. The lack of an access policy discourages private owners from sharing their manuscripts.

Ownership of Manuscripts

About 80% of manuscripts in India are privately owned. This presents a challenge for preservation efforts. Many private owners lack incentives to make their manuscripts accessible. Financial support and registration assistance for these owners could enhance preservation.

Conservation Efforts

Over the past 21 years, the NMM has conserved 90 million folios. This includes both preventive and curative conservation strategies. The goal is to ensure the longevity of these valuable texts for future generations.

Future Roadmap

The meeting outlined a roadmap for the NMM’s future. One suggestion was to establish academic chairs in universities abroad. These chairs would focus on ancient Indian studies and strengthen ties with the NMM. Collaboration between international institutions and the NMM can enhance global awareness of India’s manuscript heritage.

Legal and Intellectual Property Considerations

There were discussions on the need for legal expertise within the NMM framework. Intellectual property rights could protect manuscripts and encourage responsible ownership. This could also aid in preventing the sale of manuscripts outside India.

Preservation of Lesser-Known Scripts

The preservation of non-Brahmi and lesser-known scripts is crucial. Mr. Singh emphasized the importance of collating information on these scripts. This initiative would ensure that all aspects of India’s manuscript heritage are recognized and preserved.

The revival of the NMM and the establishment of a National Manuscripts Authority signify a renewed commitment to preserving India’s ancient texts. The future of India’s manuscript heritage looks promising through collaboration, financial support, and legal frameworks.

National Digital Library

 According to the National Statistical Commission, the literacy rate in India is 73%. However, the financial literacy rate is very less, around 24%. Compared to the other emerging economies of the world, the financial literacy rate of India is very low. To inculcate reading habits and to increase the financial literacy of the country the GoI is to launch National Digital Library. The announcement about the library was made by the finance minister Smt Nirmala Sitaraman during her budget presentation.

About the National Digital Library

• The library will mainly focus on adolescents and children
• Financial organizations will contribute age-appropriate financial materials to the library
• The main objective of the National Digital Library is to encourage the habit of reading among children
• Under this initiative, the state governments will be encouraged to create physical libraries at ward levels and panchayats. Also, they shall provide infrastructure facilities to access the resources of the National Digital Library
• Materials will also be contributed in the regional language

Why is National Digital Library launched?

During the COVID pandemic, India faced extreme learning losses. The habit of learning and the significance of knowledge vanished.

Significance

Experts from the education sector believe that the union budget 2023-24 mainly focuses on making India a knowledge-driven economy. This is to be done by strengthening the underprivileged sectors in the country.

Budget’s ‘Digital India’ push: Digital library for students to digitalising ancient inscriptions

 

The government’s new proposals for digitisation in India include establishing centres of excellence for AI, rolling out the third phase of the E-Courts project and much more.

The Union Budget speech by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday highlighted the government’s continuous efforts to push for digitisation in the country.

From building a digital library for children and adolescents to formulating a National Data Governance policy, the minister announced a wide range of schemes and proposals during her address. Here are the key highlights:

Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture: It will be an open source, open standard and interoperable public good. The platform will offer inclusive, farmer-centric solutions through relevant information services for crop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit, and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence, and support for the growth of the agri-tech industry and start-ups.

National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents: This will be established for facilitating the availability of quality books in different languages, genres and at different levels. The government will also try to inculcate a culture of reading by collaborating with NGOs, which will provide age-appropriate reading material to everyone. The National Book Trust and Children’s Book Trust will also step in. Sitharaman said the library would be “device-agnostic”.

Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence: There is a proposal for setting up three centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence in top educational institutions. These centres, in partnership with leading players in the industry, will conduct interdisciplinary research and develop cutting-edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health, and sustainable cities.

National Data Governance Policy: Government will formulate a data governance policy to enable access to anonymised data for innovation and research by start-ups and academia.

5G Services: A hundred labs will be established in engineering institutions for developing applications using 5G services to realise a new range of opportunities, business models, and employment potential.

E-Courts: Government will roll out phase three of the E-Courts project to ensure the efficient administration of justice.

Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions (Bharat SHRI): A digital epigraphy museum will be established and one lakh ancient inscriptions will be digitised in the first stage.

Skill India Digital Platform: The digital ecosystem for skilling will be further expanded by launching a unified Skill India Digital platform for enabling demand-based formal skilling, linking with employers including MSMEs and facilitating access to entrepreneurship schemes.

Source: Indian Express, 2/02/23