An acute shortage of qualified conservators to undertake preservation and conservation of about 50 lakh manuscripts across India is staring National Mission for Manuscripts in the face.
The NMM is also facing a crisis of special tissue paper and chemicals essential for conservation of priceless manuscripts.
"Though the project period is going to be over by March 2008, a full-fledged national library could not be set up yet. There are not many trained conservators nor laboratories at the NMM's disposal to carry out the vast conservation work," said a senior NMM official.
"The chemicals and the special tissue paper required for conservation are also in short supply," said the official and added that in the absence of proper conservation these priceless manuscripts would perish.
"The work of the NMM will not be stopped even after March 2008 as there is a provision in the 11th Five-Year Plan for its continuation," K K Chakraborty, member secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, which is the nodal agency and supervising authority for the NMM told PTI.
So far, about 30 lakh manuscripts have been traced by NMM from different sources.
India has one of the oldest and largest collections of manuscripts in different languages and scripts in the world.
They are written in different kinds of materials like birch bark, palm leaf, cloth and paper.
They are in the custody of different institutions like libraries, museums, monasteries, 'mutts' and individuals.
Experts estimate that almost all palm leaf manuscripts may perish due to lack of scientific preservation.
The NMM through its nationwide network and documentation efforts is engaged in preserving and rendering accessible India's knowledge cultures, seeking to link the ideas and visions of the past with the future.
"As far as conservation is concerned, we are trying to train our conservators to use modern methods as well as traditional methods. It is not possible to set up laboratories in all our centres. There are various local practices for preservation of manuscripts also," said Chakraborty.
"There is a requirement for a library for electronic storage to help build a multi-media exhbition. It will come up here soon," he added.
