New Delhi Declaration Calls for Preservation of Manuscripts

Speedy Summary

• The International Conference on ‘Gyan Bharatam’ concluded on September 13, 2025, in New Delhi.
• The conference focused on India’s manuscript heritage and the preservation of nearly 10 million ancient manuscripts.
• A New Delhi Declaration was adopted to:

– Preserve, digitise, and disseminate manuscripts as a guiding light for the future.
– Acquire or repatriate original manuscripts or secure their digital copies.
– Recognize manuscripts as the living memory of India’s civilizational identity.

• The government has launched the Gyan Bharatam Mission under the Ministry of Culture to survey, document, conserve, and make accessible India’s vast manuscript collection across institutions, libraries, and private collections.
• Efforts are being made to turn this mission into a mass movement or ‘jan aandolan’.

Indian Opinion Analysis

The completion of the Gyan Bharatam conference marks an encouraging step toward preserving India’s unparalleled manuscript heritage. By adopting concrete measures such as digitisation and repatriation via international collaborations, India is strengthening its connection with cultural roots while advancing accessibility for academic research. This initiative underscores not only past preservation but also serves to celebrate intangible civilizational identity. Though, transforming this effort into a widespread public movement requires robust public awareness campaigns alongside institutional support from diverse sectors like academia and private custodians. Successfully implementing these goals could reaffirm India’s leadership in cultural preservation globally.

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