The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, , examines issues related to these sectors under the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
Its report, “From Manuscript to Mission”, was adopted on 11 August 2026 and presented to the Rajya Sabha, it focuses on digitisation, AI-enabled mapping and long-term preservation of India’s manuscript heritage.
Digitisation & Preservation Standards
- A multispectral recovery tier proposed for damaged and overwritten folios.
- Surface-relief imaging recommended as the standard for palm-leaf manuscripts.
- A dedicated materials record proposed for manuscripts of significance.
- A dating protocol anchored at Indian accelerator laboratories.
Platforms & Mechanisms
- Akshar Mitra – proposed citizen transcription platform with dual independent verification per page.
- International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) – recommended as the access standard for the digital Repository.
- Federated learning – allows restricted collections to contribute without images leaving custodial control.
- Open national library of training pages with an annual public benchmark for publicly funded transcriptions.
Ministry & Institutional Co-ordination
- Concordance with the Ministry of Ayush to link manuscript formulations to the statutory pharmacopoeia.
- Cultural and manuscript layers proposed for integration into the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan.
- Artisan-commerce linkage proposed via the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
- Reunified manuscript treasures proposed for the UNESCO Memory of the World register.
Conclusion
The Committee’s Report sets out a technology-driven framework – spanning digitisation standards, citizen-science platforms, and cross-ministry data linkages such as with Ayush and PM Gati Shakti – for preserving and mapping India’s manuscript heritage.