Chandigarh, April 2 Haryana Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi on Thursday directed officials to expedite the central government initiative to preserve, digitize, and disseminate knowledge contained in ancient manuscripts across all districts in a time-bound manner.
Reviewing the progress of the Gyan Bharatam initiative and the National Manuscript Survey in a meeting with deputy commissioners and senior officers, he said the aim of the program is to preserve India's traditional knowledge using modern technology.
Rastogi asked officials to conduct a thorough survey of manuscripts available in institutions and with private holders such as temples, universities, libraries, and individual collectors.
He emphasized proper documentation, cataloging, and the creation of digital records.
The chief secretary said the survey will include the identification, verification, condition assessment, cataloging, conservation, and digitization of manuscripts, followed by validation to ensure accuracy.
Highlighting the role of technology, he said digitization will involve the use of scanners, metadata creation, and secure storage, along with tools such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR).
He also stressed the need for training programs to build skilled manpower, including training in ancient scripts.
The chief secretary said the survey will be completed within three months, from March to June 2026, with regular monitoring at the state and district levels.
Rastogi also called for public participation through outreach programs and urged people to share information about manuscripts through the Gyan Bharatam platform.
Senior officials attended the meeting, while Additional Chief Secretary, Higher Education, A K Singh joined via videoconferencing.