Gorakhpur: To ensure that present and future generations can take pride in their cultural heritage, both the Central and State Governments have consistently expressed commitment toward preservation efforts. In this direction, Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh has taken a significant initiative under the ambitious national campaign, the ‘Gyan Bharatam Mission’, aimed at reviving India’s rich knowledge, tradition and intellectual heritage. To preserve manuscripts and rare texts and present them digitally on a global platform, the state government has issued directives to all districts to identify and document manuscripts at the district level. For supervision of this initiative, Chief Development Officer (CDO) of each district has been designated as the nodal officer.
Under the Gyan Bharatam Mission, which focuses on heritage conservation, scientific preservation, digitization and archiving of manuscripts and rare texts related to India’s knowledge tradition are being carried out in every district. The objective is to make this invaluable heritage accessible to researchers, students, and the general public. This campaign holds special significance for Uttar Pradesh, as the state is considered a historic center of ancient knowledge, philosophy, literature and culture. Yashwant Singh Rathore, Deputy Director of Culture in Gorakhpur, stated "Under the Gyan Bharatam Mission, manuscripts and rare documents will be identified, surveyed, catalogued, preserved and digitized." The manuscripts and rare documents include handwritten texts, palm-leaf and birch-bark manuscripts and other materials available in government and non-government institutions, monasteries, temples, educational institutions, private and public libraries, as well as with individual collectors. Once digitized, these manuscripts will be made easily accessible to the public through the Gyan Bharatam portal.
Due to lack of proper maintenance, many manuscripts and rare texts held by individuals or institutions are on the verge of deterioration. The process of identifying and preserving such materials has now begun at the district level. Special campaigns will be conducted to contact individuals and institutions that have collected manuscripts and to prepare a comprehensive list. This will include handwritten texts that are more than 75 years old. The list prepared at the district level will be sent through the Department of Culture to the State Archives of Uttar Pradesh. There, high-quality scanning will be carried out to create digital versions of the manuscripts. A key feature of this mission is that the manuscripts will remain in the custody and ownership of the respective collectors or institutions, while the government will undertake their digital preservation and global presentation.