In News:

• The Union Ministry of Culture plans to revive and relaunch the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) to enhance the preservation and accessibility of India’s ancient texts.
• The mission’s objective is to document, conserve, digitize, and disseminate India’s rich manuscript heritage, ensuring their protection and public access.

Formation of a New Autonomous Body:

• The National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) is likely to be restructured into an autonomous body called the National Manuscripts Authority, which will be under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.
• The new body will address the challenges and gaps in manuscript preservation and management, offering more focused and flexible governance.

Background and Achievements:

• Established in 2003, the NMM has been part of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA).
• Key achievements:
  • 52 lakh manuscripts have had metadata prepared.
  • Over 3 lakh manuscripts have been digitized, though only one-third have been uploaded for public access.
  • Preventive and curative conservation of over 9 crore folios of manuscripts has been undertaken over the last 21 years.
  • The NMM has set up 100 Manuscripts Resource Centres and Manuscripts Conservation Centres across India.

Current Challenges and Gaps:

• Data Uploading and Access:
  • Of the 130,000 digitized manuscripts, only 70,000 are accessible online due to the absence of a comprehensive access policy.
  • A significant portion (around 80%) of manuscripts areprivately owned, restricting public access and usage.
• Digitization Mismatch:
  • There have been concerns about discrepancies between the digitized data and the original manuscripts, which requires correction to ensure authenticity and accuracy.
• Lack of Comprehensive Access Policy:
  • Limited public access to manuscripts due to policy restrictions hinders further research and public engagement with this rich heritage.

Scope and Future of NMM:

• India's Manuscript Heritage: India is believed to have around 10 million manuscripts, spread across various regions, languages, scripts, and topics.
• Digitization and Accessibility: Moving forward, the key challenge will be ensuring that a larger proportion of the manuscripts are digitized, uploaded, and made publicly available, particularly from private collections.
• The establishment of the National Manuscripts Authority is expected to streamline efforts and enhance coordination between government bodies, private institutions, and scholars.