What happened: GBM centre onboarding and National Manuscript Survey progress
The Ministry of Culture reports progress under the Gyan Bharatam Mission (GBM) and updates from the National Manuscript Survey in a Lok Sabha written reply by Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
GBM is mandated to establish a nation-wide network of Cluster Centers (CCs) and Independent Centers (ICs) across India. Government communication states that GBM centres receive financial assistance as grant-in-aid to undertake manuscript-related activities such as cataloguing, conservation, digitisation, and publication.
The National Manuscript Survey was launched in March 2026 across all States and Union Territories to identify and document manuscript holdings, repositories, and custodians across diverse languages and scripts.
During the survey, government reporting states that more than 1.19 crore manuscripts were reported. The same communication reports that total digitised manuscripts available across the country are over 8 lakh and that more than 3.90 lakh manuscripts are available on the Gyan Bharatam portal for public access in view mode.
How GBM centres are selected (CCs and ICs)
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