Parliament panel suggests reading workforce for Gyan Bharatam Mission

A parliamentary panel has recommended creating a dedicated scientific programme and a nationwide pool of researchers and citizen contributors to read and transcribe manuscripts that cannot be physically opened. The 31-member Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, chaired by Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha, submitted its report titled 'From Manuscript to Mission: Preserving, Mapping and Sustaining India’s Cultural Heritage in the Age of Artificial Intelligence' in Parliament during the Monsoon session.

The report suggests setting up a 'national reading workforce' comprising a citizen transcription platform, possibly named 'Akshar Mitra', and a standing compact with universities. Under the proposed system, every machine-read manuscript page would be independently checked by two volunteers, with differences resolved by a third. University departments would adopt unedited manuscripts as dissertation projects. The committee also recommended expanding the national digitisation standard into a comprehensive capture standard.

The Gyan Bharatam Mission, announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs 491.66 crore for 2025-2031, aims to survey, document and conserve India's manuscript heritage. A national survey between March and June 2026 recorded 2.25 crore manuscripts, of which 1.16 crore have been verified and entered into a national database. About eight lakh manuscripts have been digitised. The mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2025 under the Ministry of Culture.