The Culture and Tourism Minister Smt. Ambika Soni has said that there is a need to have a massive campaign among people about the importance of preserving the voices from the past to revive the perennial stream of knowledge for contemporary India. Launching the National Database of Manuscripts and the Proclamation of 45 Manuscripts as “Vijnananidhi: Manuscript Treasures of India” here today, she said now more than ever, when India is emerging as knowledge society, there is a renewed focus in rediscovering the past and integrating it with the present, in an attempt to revive that perennial stream of knowledge for contemporary society in the country. She said the task is to engage in a search for India’s own intellectual resources with full awareness of the components of our rich culture. Smt. Soni said the knowledge system developed in India with care and insistence on detail have largely became obscure for the general people, with the result that the ‘modern’ Indians started looking at the past, either with scorn or with indifference. Contemporary Indians lost touch with the skills and techniques of ancient Indian systems and they became lost or neglected. The Minister called upon the NGOs, scholars and the common men to come forward to contribute in spreading the message about the value and wealth of old manuscripts in a knowledge society. Recalling that India has the largest collection of manuscripts in the world, the Minister said, today is the momentous occasion, when we dedicate to the nation, the electronic catalogue of one million Indian manuscripts. She said, in fact the compilation of this catalogue of ten lakh manuscripts is a world record, unsurpassed by any other country. The Minister launched the online database Kritisampada,on the occasion and opened it to public at large, for search on the basis of title, author, script, language, subject and material. The database hosts information on individual manuscripts, manuscript collections and printed catalogues. The database will be accessible both in Hindi and English. The National Electronic Catalogue of Manuscripts, will be available on the internet through the Mission’s website - http://www.namami.org. The Minister announced that 45 manuscripts have been selected as ‘Vijñânanidhi – Manuscript Treasures of India’: She also awarded citations to several Scholars and Institutions who helped the National Manuscripts Mission to launch the electronic database of manuscripts. The Information and Broadcasting Secretary Shri S.K. Arora, who is officiating as Secretary Culture, Dr. Lokesh Chandra, Indologist and Prof. V. Kutumba Shastri also spoke on the occasion.
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