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The Ministry of Culture told the Lok Sabha on 3 August 2026 that eight national-level museums have transferred 4,78,971 artefact records to C-DAC, Pune through JATAN software, of which 3,36,359 — 70.23% — are live on the Museums of India portal.
JATAN is the collection-management and digitisation software developed by C-DAC, Pune; the Museums of India portal is the national digital repository built on it, carrying the collections of eight national museums, two ASI site museums and the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Museum, Pune.
Under the Gyan Bharatam Mission, announced in the Union Budget 2025-26, the Standing Finance Committee has sanctioned ₹491.66 crore for 2025-2031; a National Manuscript Survey launched in March 2026 has reported more than 1.19 crore manuscripts.
Over 8 lakh manuscripts have been digitised nationally, of which more than 4.40 lakh are on the Gyan Bharatam portal in view mode, accessible state-wise.
Other strands include the National Archives of India's Abhilekh Patal portal, NCSM's National Science & Technology Digital Archive opened on 5 December 2024, ASI mobile apps for the Hampi and Nalanda museums, and Indian Museum, Kolkata's tie-ups with IIT Kharagpur for AI-based artefact restoration and with Google Arts & Culture for a virtual exhibition.
Digital collection management and digitisation of museum objects and archival resources, so that catalogues, images and metadata sit in one standard system across institutions.
Key: Developed by C-DAC, Pune in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture. Museums transfer records to C-DAC, Pune, from where they publish to the Museums of India portal. ASI antiquities have also been documented on it — 723 at the ASI Museum, Goa and 8,450 at the ASI Museum, Nagarjunakonda.
A national digital repository giving public access to digitised museum collections at one address.
Key: Carries the digitised collections of eight national-level museums, two ASI Site Museums and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Museum, Pune. Of 4,78,971 records transferred by the eight national museums, 3,36,359 (70.23%) are live.
Safeguard India's manuscript heritage and revive its knowledge traditions — through survey and registration of manuscripts, documentation and cataloguing wherever they are held, conservation with training and financial support, promotion of scholarship in manuscriptology, and the building of a National Digital Repository.
Key: Announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 under the Ministry of Culture, with ₹491.66 crore sanctioned by the Standing Finance Committee for 2025-2031. Works through Cluster Centres and Independent Centres — universities, research institutions, libraries, archives, private custodians and religious institutions — with States/UTs acting as Nodal Coordinating Authorities. Access respects the rights of custodians: sensitive, restricted or rights-protected material may carry access conditions.
Identify and document manuscript holdings, repositories and custodians across languages and scripts — the baseline exercise the whole mission depends on.
Key: Launched in March 2026 across all States and Union Territories; more than 1.19 crore manuscripts reported. Against that, just over 8 lakh are digitised nationally — roughly 7% — which is the real measure of the task ahead.
Modernisation and upgradation of science centres under the National Council of Science Museums.
Key: Six centres modernised — Ranchi Science Centre (Jharkhand), Sukanta Academy of Arts, Science & Culture (Tripura), Nagaland Science Centre, Dimapur, Shillong Science Centre (Meghalaya), Mizoram Science Centre, Aizawl and Manipur Science Centre — five of the six in the North East.
Set up by the Ministry of Culture in 1987 to explore, study and disseminate Indian arts. Maintains digital archives of manuscripts, photographs, rare books, audio-visual recordings, cultural documentation, art objects and archival collections, and has documented Mithila art, traditions and manuscripts. IGNCA is also the nodal agency for the National Mission for Manuscripts.
Initiated in February 2003 by the then Ministry of Tourism and Culture to survey, locate, document and conserve Indian manuscripts, with IGNCA as the nodal agency for execution. It is the predecessor effort on which the Gyan Bharatam Mission now builds at much larger scale.
The repository of the non-current records of the Government of India, under the Ministry of Culture. Digitises archival records and uploads them to its dedicated portal 'Abhilekh Patal' for researchers, scholars and the public. It was established as the Imperial Record Department on 11 March 1891 in Calcutta and later moved to Delhi.
The apex body for science museums and centres, an autonomous society under the Ministry of Culture formed on 4 April 1978, with 26 units across the country and the Central Research and Training Laboratory at Kolkata. Works on AR, VR, AI, computer vision, motion tracking, eye-tracking and touchless interaction for museum exhibits. Its Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Kolkata opened the National Science & Technology Digital Archive on 5 December 2024, holding papers, letters and manuscripts of eminent Indian scientists.
An autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Culture that trains teachers, teacher educators and students in preserving and promoting Indian culture, organising educational visits to museums, monuments and nature parks through its regional centres.
Undertakes digital documentation of antiquities and built heritage through the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities, has documented 723 antiquities at its Goa museum and 8,450 at Nagarjunakonda on JATAN, and has launched mobile applications offering virtual tours of the Archaeological Museums at Hampi (Karnataka) and Nalanda (Bihar).
The numbers in this reply separate three different things that are easy to blur. A manuscript or artefact can be surveyed (we know it exists and who holds it), digitised (an image and metadata exist), and made accessible (the public can view it). The gaps are large and instructive: over 1.19 crore manuscripts reported in the survey, just over 8 lakh digitised, and more than 4.40 lakh visible on the Gyan Bharatam portal — and even those are in 'view mode' rather than downloadable, because custodian and rights-holder permissions govern what may be shared. The museum table shows the same pattern from the other end: 4,78,971 records transferred to C-DAC, Pune but 3,36,359 online, with the National Museum at 51.15% and the three NGMA branches and Victoria Memorial Hall near or at 100%. Small, well-catalogued collections finish; the largest collection in the country is barely half done. Any exam question about 'how much has been digitised' therefore has to specify which of the three stages it means.
Simple Analogy: Surveying is knowing there is a book in the house; digitising is photographing every page; access is being allowed to read the photographs. The three numbers shrink at each step, and only the last one is of any use to a reader.
| Aspect | National Mission for Manuscripts | Gyan Bharatam Mission |
|---|---|---|
| Started | February 2003 | Announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 |
| Nodal arrangement | IGNCA is the executing nodal agency | Ministry of Culture, working through Cluster and Independent Centres with States/UTs as Nodal Coordinating Authorities |
| Core aim | Survey, locate, document and conserve Indian manuscripts | Technology-led acceleration of digitisation and documentation, plus a National Digital Repository |
| Financial commitment stated | Not stated in this release | ₹491.66 crore sanctioned for 2025-2031 |
| Signature output cited | Cataloguing and conservation of manuscripts | National Manuscript Survey (March 2026) reporting over 1.19 crore manuscripts; 4.40 lakh+ on the Gyan Bharatam portal |
The digitisation effort touches institutions across the country: the National Museum and NGMA in New Delhi, Indian Museum and Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata, Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad, Allahabad Museum in Prayagraj, NGMA branches at Mumbai and Bengaluru, ASI site museums at Goa and Nagarjunakonda (Andhra Pradesh), and ASI museum apps for Hampi in Karnataka and Nalanda in Bihar. The SPoCS science-centre modernisation is concentrated in the North East — Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur — with Ranchi the one exception.
The museums reply cites 'more than 3.5 lakh' digitised manuscripts on the Gyan Bharatam portal while the manuscripts reply the same day cites 'more than 4.40 lakh'. Both are official; the figures are simply reported from different points in a fast-moving upload. Cite the larger with its source, and note the discrepancy rather than averaging.
Three Bihar institutions have onboarded — Nava Nalanda Mahavihar (Nalanda), Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library (Patna) and Shri Bodh Gaya Math (Bodh Gaya) — a reminder that the manuscript custodial network runs through religious institutions and private libraries, not only state archives.
Indian Museum, Kolkata has partnered IIT Kharagpur for AI-based restoration of archaeological artefacts and Google Arts & Culture for a virtual exhibition, while NCSM works on AR, VR, computer vision, motion and eye tracking for exhibits. Cultural institutions are becoming a live use case for these technologies rather than merely their subject.
The phrase — development as well as heritage — is the framing the Indian Museum's initiatives are placed under in the reply, and is the government's standard formulation for pairing modernisation with cultural preservation.
GS Paper 1 > Indian Heritage and Culture; GS Paper 2 > Government Policies and Interventions
General Awareness > Art and Culture, Institutions
General Awareness > Static GK
Cultural institutions and their headquarters are asked in almost every SSC cycle; heritage digitisation is a rising UPSC theme.
Museum collection-management and digitisation software developed by C-DAC, Pune with the Ministry of Culture.
The National Archives of India's portal on which digitised archival records are made available to researchers and the public.
Ministry of Culture manuscripts mission announced in Budget 2025-26, with ₹491.66 crore sanctioned for 2025-2031.
National Mission for Manuscripts, begun February 2003 with IGNCA as nodal agency.
Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science, under which six NCSM science centres were modernised.