04/11/2025
In a significant development for the preservation of India's cultural heritage, Assam University has been selected as the only university from the entire Northeast region to be awarded a Cluster Centre under the Ministry of Culture's flagship initiative, 'Gyan Bharatam'.
Assam University is among 17 leading institutions from across the country that formally entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry at a ceremony held on 25th October 2025 at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. Prof. Govind Sharma of the Department of Sanskrit, Assam University was present at the event on behalf of the university as the coordinator of the Cluster Centre at Assam University.
The event, graced by Union Minister of Culture & Tourism, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, marked a historic step in the national effort to safeguard, preserve, and revitalize India's vast manuscript wealth. Under the Gyan Bharatam framework, a total of 12 Cluster Centres and 5 Independent Centres have been established as key implementing partners for the initiative.
The selection of Assam University as a Cluster Centre positions it as a nodal point for the Gyan Bharatam mission in the northeastern part of India. The Centre will be responsible for driving the initiative's five core verticals: Survey & Cataloguing, Conservation & Capacity Building, Technology & Digitization, Linguistics & Translation, and Research, Publication & Outreach. This role entails coordinating and supporting manuscript preservation efforts across the region, besides working on its own collections.
Announced in the Union Budget 2025-26, Gyan Bharatam is dedicated to identifying, documenting, conserving, digitizing, and promoting India's manuscript legacy. A key component of the initiative is the creation of a National Digital Repository (NDR) to make this invaluable heritage accessible on national and global platforms.
For Assam University and the Northeast, this recognition underscores the region's pivotal role in the national mission to transform ancient archives into living sources of knowledge and inspiration for generations to come.
Report prepared by:
Prof. Alfarid Hussain.
Chairman, Assam University Media Cell.
PMO India
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Culture, Government of India
Dharmendra Pradhan
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
University Grants Commission