What happened: National Manuscript Survey and AI tools on Gyan Bharatam Web Portal

The Ministry of Culture implemented the Gyan Bharatam Mission through two connected activities: (1) the National Manuscript Survey to identify and document manuscript holdings, and (2) the Gyan Bharatam Web Portal to provide AI-enabled access to India’s manuscript heritage.

National Manuscript Survey was launched across all States and Union Territories to identify and document manuscript holdings, repositories, and custodians representing diverse languages and scripts.

During the survey, more than 1.19 crore manuscripts have been reported.

The Gyan Bharatam Web Portal uses AI-enabled technologies to make manuscript collections more searchable and usable. These AI tools include:

The portal uses Large Language Script Models (LLSM) (language models trained for scripts), Optical Character Recognition (OCR) (converting printed text images into editable text), Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) (converting handwritten text images into text), script recognition, semantic search, and machine-assisted translation to provide intelligent access to India’s manuscript heritage.