India has world's largest collection of manuscripts: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India has the largest collection of manuscripts in the world. He also said the county's manuscripts contain footprints of the development of the entire humanity.

Speaking at the International Conference on 'Gyan Bharatam' at Vigyan Bhawan here, the PM said India had a collection of about one crore manuscripts.

Being hosted by the Ministry of Culture, held from September 11 to 13 under the theme “Reclaiming India’s Knowledge Legacy through Manuscript Heritage," the conference brought together leading scholars, conservationists, technologists and policy experts to discuss ways to preserve and share India’s manuscript collection globally.

It also included an exhibition showcasing rare manuscripts and scholarly presentations by a total of eight working groups on areas like manuscript conservation, digitisation technologies, metadata standards, legal frameworks, cultural diplomacy and decipherment of ancient scripts.

PM Modi also launched the 'Gyan Bharatam Portal,' a digital repository platform aimed at accelerating the preservation, digitisation and access to India’s manuscripts.

He also pointed out that while millions of manuscripts had been destroyed over time, the surviving works demonstrate “how devoted our ancestors were to knowledge, science and learning”.

The Prime Minister underscored that India’s knowledge tradition rests on four pillars – preservation, innovation, addition and adaptation.

He said, “Numerous elements of India’s traditional knowledge systems — used for centuries — are often copied and patented by others." The digitisation effort will help “regulate intellectual piracy", he said.

“The global cultural and creative industry is valued at approximately $2.5 trillion,” Modi noted, adding that digitised manuscripts would serve as a data bank for research and development, providing new opportunities for youth in the tech sector.

Calling on universities and youth to actively participate, Modi said, “Efforts must be made to make this knowledge accessible to humanity on evidence-based parameters.” He encouraged the use of technologies like artificial intelligence to “understand these manuscripts in greater depth".