NEW DELHI: In a major step towards preserving India’s ancient knowledge systems, the Ministry of Culture will soon roll out a mobile application and web portal offering public access to digitised versions of rare and historical manuscripts under the ‘Gyan Bharatam Mission’.
The upcoming app—available on Android and iOS platforms—will provide researchers, historians, and enthusiasts access to centuries-old manuscripts directly on their smartphones. Officials confirmed that the app will also include interactive tutorials, real-time document translation, mobile search optimisation, and a secure payment gateway for premium services and subscriptions.
“Access to digital PDF content will be provided through mobile apps that are currently under development,” a senior ministry official said. A dedicated online portal is also being created to support broader access on desktops and other devices.
Launched as an ambitious national initiative, the Gyan Bharatam Mission aims to digitise, preserve, and democratise access to India’s vast and diverse manuscript heritage. The ministry has already begun work on digitising nearly 50 crore pages of rare documents written on materials such as palm leaves, birch bark, paper, and cloth.
These manuscripts span multiple Indian and classical languages, including Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Arabic, Persian, Bengali, and Malayalam, and are currently housed in libraries, archives, and private collections across various states.
The project, expected to take at least three years, involves creating detailed metadata, following international digital archiving standards, and ensuring long-term digital preservation and user-friendly retrieval.
Many of the manuscripts are in fragile condition, officials said. Several are stained, marked by worm damage, have translucent pages, or suffer from ink bleed-through—making careful restoration and scanning critical. In addition to textual content, the manuscripts also include visual elements.
Adhering to int’l digital archiving standards
The project, expected to take at least three years, involves creating detailed metadata, following international digital archiving standards, and ensuring long-term digital preservation and user-friendly retrieval. Many of the manuscripts are in fragile condition, officials said. Several are stained, marked by worm damage, have translucent pages, or suffer from ink bleed—making careful restoration critical.