What is the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM)?

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Why in News:

Presently, NMM is a part of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.
The new body, likely to be named the National Manuscripts Authority, will be an autonomous entity under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

About National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM):

It was established in February 2003, by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India.
Mandate: Documenting, conserving and disseminating the knowledge preserved in the manuscripts.
Motto: ‘Conserving the past for the future’
A unique project in its programme and mandate, the NMM seeks to unearth and preserve the vast manuscript wealth of India.
- India possesses an estimate of ten million manuscripts, probably the largest collection in the world.
- These cover a variety of themes, textures, and aesthetics, scripts, languages, calligraphies, illuminations, and illustrations.
- While 75% of the existing manuscripts are in Sanskrit, 25% are in regional languages, according to the NMM.
Objectives:
- Locate manuscripts through a national-level survey and post-survey.
- Document each and every manuscript and manuscript repository, for a National Electronic Database that currently contains information on four million manuscripts making this the largest database on Indian manuscripts in the world.
- Conserve manuscripts incorporating both modern and indigenous methods of conservation and training a new generation of manuscript conservators.
- To train the next generation of scholars in various aspects of Manuscript Studies like languages, scripts and critical editing and cataloguing of texts and conservation of manuscripts.
- To promote access to manuscripts by digitizing the rarest and most endangered manuscripts.
- To promote access to manuscripts through the publication of critical editions of unpublished manuscripts and catalogues.
- To facilitate public’s engagement with manuscripts through lectures, seminars, publications and other outreach programmes.
To achieve this mandate, the mission has established more than 100 Manuscripts Resource Centres and Manuscripts Conservation Centres all over India.

What is a Manuscript?

A manuscript is a handwritten composition on paper, bark, cloth, metal, palm leaf, or any other material dating back at least seventy-five years that has significant scientific, historical, or aesthetic value.
Lithographs and printed volumes are not manuscripts.
Manuscripts are found in hundreds of different languages and scripts.
- Often, one language is written in a number of different scripts. For example, Sanskrit is written in Oriya script, Grantha script, Devanagari script, and many other scripts.
Manuscripts are distinct from historical records such as epigraphs on rocks, firm ans, and revenue records, which provide direct information on events or processes in history.
Manuscripts have knowledge content.