Terrorism prevents survey on loss of manuscripts in J&K

New Delhi, Aug 16 (UNI) The government today said no survey had been conducted to determine the extent of loss of manuscripts in the Kashmir valley due to terrorism.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni said the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) under the Culture Ministry, had collaborated with the Directorate of State Archaeology, Archives and Museums to locate and document the manuscripts in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ms Soni said the NMM had collected information on more than 22,000 manuscripts in 163 manuscript repositories in the State, which had been incorporated in the National Database of the Manuscripts of the Mission.

In order to protect the knowledge contained in manuscripts for long-term preservation, the Mission has started a programme for digitisation of manuscripts under which more than 14 lakh folios of rare manuscripts from the state have already been digitised.

The minister said public awareness programmes were being organised by the NMM to train owners of repositories on the methods of preserving their manuscript collections.

UNI