Ministry of Culture focuses on Preservation of Palm Leaf Manuscripts The Minister of Tourism and Culture Smt. Ambika Soni has said that rare palm leaf manuscripts are preserved and protected scientifically under the National Mission for Manuscripts, through the network of 33 Manuscript Conservation Centres and their partner centres, spread all over the country. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today she said, under the Mission no state-wise allocation of funds is made. However, the details of the amount spent under the Mission during the last three years are as under: Year Allocation ( In Rs. Crore) 2004-05 3.47 2005-06 7.90 2006-07 9.43 (USD 2.3 million) Under the National Mission for Manuscripts (http://www.namami.org), digitization of important manuscripts in the country is taken up to prepare a national database of important manuscripts ( http://www.namami.org/pdatabase.aspx). This is an ongoing process and, therefore, no deadline can be fixed. However, since the launch of the Mission in 2003, more than 15,000 manuscripts containing 2.2 million manuscript pages have already been digitized . A large number of new manuscripts, running into thousands, have been unearthed under the Mission. The National Mission for Manuscripts helps in spreading awareness about the manuscript heritage of India through awareness campaigns, workshops, National surveys, exhibitions, public lectures and publication of books on manuscripts. Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/rel_print_page1.asp?relid=30665 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ms. Susmita Chakraborty Kolkata-700031, India Email: susmitachakraborty94[at]gmail[dot]com Personal Blog: http://susmitachakraborty.blogspot.com/ Please support: MANAS - a society for mentally disturbed persons their family and friends http://www.geocities.com/manas_teghari/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.