NATIONAL
MANUSCRIPTS MISSION - POLITY
News: Government
plans law on protection of Indian manuscripts
What's
in the news?
● According
to the sources in the Ministry of Culture, the government is planning to
introduce the National Manuscripts Bill 2023, possibly in the Winter Session of
Parliament.
Key
takeaways:
● According
to the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), India possesses an estimated 10 million manuscripts in 80 ancient
scripts like Brahmi, Kushan, Gaudi, Lepcha, and Maithili.
● India
has a large collection of ancient
manuscripts, a part of the country’s cultural heritage, but over the years
many have been lost or lie in museums abroad
National
Mission for Manuscripts:
● The
National Mission for Manuscripts was established in February 2003, by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government
of India.
● A
unique project in its programme and mandate, the Mission seeks to unearth and
preserve the vast manuscript wealth of India.
● The
Mission has the mandate of identifying, documenting, conserving and making
accessible the manuscript heritage of India.
Structure
of the Mission:
● It
is an integral part of the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts (IGNCA) and will function as an
independent Division of IGNCA.
Highlights:
● According
to the NMM, 75% of the existing manuscripts are in Sanskrit, 25% are in
regional languages.
● India
possesses an estimate of five million manuscripts, probably the largest
collection in the world.
● The
NMM has successfully digitized 330,000 manuscripts, encompassing around 31
million folios.
● While
over 118,000 manuscripts have been uploaded, only approximately 70,000 are
presently accessible to the public via online platforms.
● The
Bakhshali manuscript, an ancient mathematical text inscribed on birch bark,
stands as the earliest documented instance of zero's utilization, originating
from India.