Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Artificial intelligence is being used under the Gyan Bharatam Mission to digitise and decode India’s manuscript heritage, with “over 44 lakh manuscripts documented”, according to a government data sheet shared on Thursday. The fact sheet, titled “Vikas Bhi, Virasat Bhi — 12 Years of Preserving India’s Heritage”, was issued to mark 12 years of the Narendra Modi government.
Along with the manuscript mission, the fact sheet highlighted the newly built Ram temple in Ayodhya, documentation work under the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA), the Archaeological Survey of India’s conservation work, and the return of cultural artefacts to India in recent years.
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On manuscripts, the document said more than eight lakh digitised manuscripts in different formats are being reformatted as per Gyan Bharatam standard operating procedures. “Out of these 1.29 lakh manuscripts are accessible to the public on the National Digital Repository (NDR),” it said. It also said a national manuscript survey was launched in March to identify, document and create a comprehensive national database of manuscripts.
Announced in the Union Budget 2025-26, Gyan Bharatam is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Culture to unearth, safeguard and preserve India’s manuscript heritage, while using modern technology to protect fragile material and improve access. “To support the initiative, the Standing Finance Committee has sanctioned Rs 491.66 crore for the period 2025-2031,” Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha in February.
The fact sheet also gave details on Ayodhya after the consecration of the Ram temple in January 2024. It said the city was being supported by large-scale urban development and was emerging as a major spiritual destination with better connectivity and infrastructure.
“Tourism in Ayodhya is estimated to generate Rs 18,000 crore annually by 2028, with current tourism revenue of Rs 8,000–Rs 12,500 crore annually. Visitor numbers surged from 57.5 million in 2023 to over 160 million in 2024, with more than 230 million devotees in the first half of 2025,” according to the fact sheet. “The state is also investing over Rs 5,000 crore in development, with Ayodhya contributing nearly 25 per cent of Uttar Pradesh’s projected Rs 70,000 crore tourism economy by 2028,” it added.
On conservation records, the document said the NMMA, which is implemented under the ASI, supports conservation by building a national database of built heritage and antiquities. It aims to document and inventory monuments and antiquities across the country to help planning, prioritisation and monitoring of conservation work. “As of March 2026, NMMA has documented 1.84 lakh monuments, including built heritage and sites. It also documented 17.20 lakh antiquities across India,” the fact sheet said. It added that the government had set up the NMMA in 2007 to prepare two national registers on the documentation and digitisation of unprotected monuments, built heritage and sites, and antiquities across the country.
The fact sheet said the ASI, the main organisation for archaeological research and conservation of cultural heritage, works through around 38 circles that function as regional administrative units. “As on April 2026, India has 3,686 centrally protected monuments under ASI. For the year 2024-25, around Rs 374 crore was allocated by the government for conservation and maintenance of protected monuments,” it said. On returned artefacts, it said repatriation had been “significantly strengthened” in recent years to “restore India’s stolen heritage”.
As of May 2026, it said, 653 antiquities had been retrieved since 2014. “In the last five years itself, 613 cultural artefacts have been brought back to India, reflecting a major acceleration in recovery efforts. Further, 11 objects with verified origins have been handed over to concerned organisations and institutions. Nine objects have been given on loan to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) for display. One object has been given to the National Museum, while 14 objects have been allotted to the Indian Institute of Heritage,” it added.
Overall, the government’s fact sheet presented its heritage work through manuscript digitisation, conservation records, Ayodhya’s development and the return of antiquities, with figures covering documentation, access, funding, tourism, monument protection and recovered cultural objects.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
