National Mission for Manuscripts

Source- This post on the National Mission for Manuscripts has been created based on the article “NATIONAL MISSION FOR MANUSCRIPTS” published in “PIB” on 26 July 2024.

The National Mission for Manuscripts aims to document, conserve, digitize, and disseminate India’s manuscript heritage.

About National Mission for Manuscripts

1. The National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) is an autonomous body under the Culture Ministry.

2. It was launched in 2003.

3. NMM’s mandate includes identifying, documenting, conserving, and making accessible India’s manuscript heritage.

4. The manuscripts encompass a variety of themes, textures, aesthetics, scripts, languages, calligraphies, illuminations, and illustrations.

5.  NMM’s motto is ‘conserving the past for the future’.

6.  Approximately 75% of existing manuscripts are in Sanskrit, while 25% are in regional languages.

7. NMM has digitised 3.3 lakh manuscripts, containing about 3.1 crore folios. Over 1.18 lakh manuscripts have been uploaded, but only about 70,000 are available online for public access.

8. The mission has documented approximately 5.2 million manuscripts across India. The mission has conserved 90 million folios of manuscripts. The mission has digitized 3.5 lakh manuscripts, amounting to 3.5 crore pages.

9. The mission has uploaded 1.4 lakh manuscripts on its web portal, out of which 75,000 manuscripts are available online for free access to researchers and the public. The mission has conducted over 100 conservation workshops.

10. The mission has published more than 100 books since its inception, with the list of these publications available in Annexure-I.  The mission has established over 100 Manuscripts Resource Centres and Manuscripts Conservation Centres across India.

UPSC Syllabus: Art and culture