Patna: A senior government meeting in Bihar has set a 30-day deadline to complete a statewide survey of ancient manuscripts, as part of a renewed push to preserve the region’s cultural heritage through digitisation.
The review, held on Wednesday at the Bihar Museum in Patna, was chaired by Pratyaya Amrit, the state’s chief secretary. Officials said the exercise would focus on cataloguing, documenting and digitally archiving manuscripts scattered across districts.
Amrit described the preservation effort as central to Bihar’s cultural identity and instructed departments to carry out the work in “mission mode”. District authorities have been asked to coordinate closely with local and independent centres to accelerate the process, with progress reviewed at the district level.
The initiative forms part of the “Gyan Bharatam Mission”, under which the state government is seeking to modernise the conservation of its historical and intellectual assets. Officials said a follow-up video conference involving key departments and institutions would be held on April 9 to monitor progress and refine strategy.
Among those present at the meeting were Anjani Kumar Singh, Pranav Kumar and Krishna Kumar, alongside academic and cultural experts including Imtiaz Ahmad and Siddharth Singh.
The government said coordinated action across departments would be essential to meet the deadline and ensure long-term preservation of Bihar’s manuscript heritage.
