Since New Delhi, 2003, a total of 3.5 lakh manuscripts have been digitized, the government on Monday informed the Lok Sabha.
Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, in a written response of a query, also said that 92 manuscript conservation centers are still established, out of which 42 are currently active.
He was asked whether the government has proposed to host the International Manuscript Heritage Conference that has been “revived through the knowledge of India through a manuscript heritage to celebrate Swami Vivekananda’s address as a part of the Bhaktam Mission in September 2025.
“Yes. The government has proposed to host the International Manuscript Heritage Conference for the first time to recover India’s knowledge heritage through manuscript heritage in September 2025.
The minister said, “The program plans to celebrate the 132nd anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s historic address in the Parliament of the world religions held in Chicago on September 11, 1893.”
The purpose of the conference is to bring scholars, historians, manuscript experts and cultural physicians together to detect, preserve and promote India’s huge and diverse manuscript heritage.
The conference includes the interpretation of ancient scripts in the major themes and focus areas of the conference: Indus, Gilgit and Shak; Survey, documentation, metadata standard and digital collections; Manuscript and pallography, codicology; Digitalization tools, platforms and protocols; Protection and restoration of manuscripts; Decoding manuscripts: route to Indian knowledge system; Manuscripts as a tool of cultural diplomacy; And the legal and moral outline for manuscript protection and access, he said.
In his response, the Union Culture Minister said that since 2003, a total of 3.50 lakh manuscripts have been digitized.
He said, “So far 92 manuscript conservation centers are established, 42 of which are currently active. Also, 93 manuscript resource centers, 37 are currently active,” he said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without amending the text.
