Prepare action plan for conservation of manuscripts: CS
Patna: Chief secretary Pratyaya Amrit on Wednesday instructed the officials to prepare a concrete action plan for the conservation of manuscripts scattered across the state. Amrit also directed the formation of a technical team in each district for discovering and cataloguing manuscripts.
This team will conduct survey work by visiting institutional and private collections such as monasteries, temples, and private libraries. He emphasised starting the survey soon by taking these tasks in “mission mode”.
These instructions were given in a high-level meeting on conservation and digitisation of manuscripts , jointly chaired by Amrit, with the objective of preserving Bihar’s rich historical and cultural heritage.
The meeting was jointly chaired by the chief secretary and director general, Bihar Museum Anjani Kumar Singh. This initiative is being undertaken under the “Gyan Bharatam” campaign of the Union ministry of culture.
Addressing the meeting, Amrit stressed the need to have a concrete action plan for the conservation of manuscripts across the state. He said for successful implementation of this campaign in the state, the art, culture and youth department was designated as the “nodal authority” and the museum director as the nodal officer. To work in this direction, Bihar govt signed a MoU with “Gyan Bharatam” (ministry of culture).
He further directed the formation of a technical team in each district, which would work on finding such manuscripts. He said monitoring of this work will be done every 14 days by the director, Bihar Museum, and every month by the secretary, art and culture department. He mentioned that significant manuscripts are also available in the record rooms of Bihar’s “old districts”, whose conservation is extremely necessary.
The chief secretary said if good work is done in this direction by the department before “Bihar Diwas-2026”, then individuals and institutions contributing to manuscripts’ conservation will be honoured. He said the state digital repository will be linked with the national digital repository.
Director general, Bihar Museum, while highlighting the technical intricacies of the subject, gave necessary directions to the department. He said special laboratories can be established in the state for scientific conservation of manuscripts. He said that currently such advanced laboratories are already operational in Patna Museum and Bihar Museum. To successfully complete this work, he suggested forming a dedicated special team.
During the meeting, subject experts and officials concerned also shared their suggestions.
Secretary, art, culture and youth department Pranav Kumar; director, museum and archaeology directorate Krishna Kumar; officiating vice-chancellor, Nav Nalanda Mahavihara Vishwajit Kumar; assistant librarian, Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library Md Asgar; director, archives Md Faizal Abdullah; historian and former director (Khuda Bakhsh Library) Imtiyaz Ahmad; coordinator (exploration and excavation), Bihar Heritage Development Society Amit Ranjan; additional director, Patna Museum Sunil Kumar Jha; and additional director, Bihar Museum Ashok Kumar Sinha, along with other officials were present in the meeting.
This team will conduct survey work by visiting institutional and private collections such as monasteries, temples, and private libraries. He emphasised starting the survey soon by taking these tasks in “mission mode”.
These instructions were given in a high-level meeting on conservation and digitisation of manuscripts , jointly chaired by Amrit, with the objective of preserving Bihar’s rich historical and cultural heritage.
The meeting was jointly chaired by the chief secretary and director general, Bihar Museum Anjani Kumar Singh. This initiative is being undertaken under the “Gyan Bharatam” campaign of the Union ministry of culture.
Addressing the meeting, Amrit stressed the need to have a concrete action plan for the conservation of manuscripts across the state. He said for successful implementation of this campaign in the state, the art, culture and youth department was designated as the “nodal authority” and the museum director as the nodal officer. To work in this direction, Bihar govt signed a MoU with “Gyan Bharatam” (ministry of culture).
He further directed the formation of a technical team in each district, which would work on finding such manuscripts. He said monitoring of this work will be done every 14 days by the director, Bihar Museum, and every month by the secretary, art and culture department. He mentioned that significant manuscripts are also available in the record rooms of Bihar’s “old districts”, whose conservation is extremely necessary.
The chief secretary said if good work is done in this direction by the department before “Bihar Diwas-2026”, then individuals and institutions contributing to manuscripts’ conservation will be honoured. He said the state digital repository will be linked with the national digital repository.
Director general, Bihar Museum, while highlighting the technical intricacies of the subject, gave necessary directions to the department. He said special laboratories can be established in the state for scientific conservation of manuscripts. He said that currently such advanced laboratories are already operational in Patna Museum and Bihar Museum. To successfully complete this work, he suggested forming a dedicated special team.
During the meeting, subject experts and officials concerned also shared their suggestions.
Secretary, art, culture and youth department Pranav Kumar; director, museum and archaeology directorate Krishna Kumar; officiating vice-chancellor, Nav Nalanda Mahavihara Vishwajit Kumar; assistant librarian, Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library Md Asgar; director, archives Md Faizal Abdullah; historian and former director (Khuda Bakhsh Library) Imtiyaz Ahmad; coordinator (exploration and excavation), Bihar Heritage Development Society Amit Ranjan; additional director, Patna Museum Sunil Kumar Jha; and additional director, Bihar Museum Ashok Kumar Sinha, along with other officials were present in the meeting.
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