Indian Culture Portal Unveiled by Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel
In a significant step towards showcasing India's rich cultural heritage, Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel recently launched the Indian Culture web portal in New Delhi. The portal, a part of the National Virtual Library of India project, funded by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, serves as a platform to showcase India's diverse cultural heritage, aligning with the broader goals of the Prime Minister's Digital India initiative.
The Indian Culture portal is a treasure trove of India's historical and traditional knowledge, featuring a wide range of cultural assets such as manuscripts, books, magazines, and other materials. It is integrated with the Digital Library of India, providing access to a vast collection of e-books, journals, and other digital content, contributing to the preservation and dissemination of cultural knowledge.
The portal's launch is a significant contribution to the digital accessibility of India's cultural resources, ensuring they are accessible to a global audience. By digitizing cultural resources, the portal ensures they are readily available under initiatives like the Gyan Bharatam Mission, which aims to digitize over one crore manuscripts. This digital access enhances the promotion of India's rich cultural heritage, making it available online and thereby enhancing awareness and appreciation of India's cultural diversity worldwide.
The portal also supports educational and research activities by providing scholars and researchers with easy access to India's historical and traditional knowledge, facilitating deeper study and preservation of cultural heritage. It aids in the preservation of India's cultural heritage by digitizing and archiving cultural materials, ensuring their longevity and accessibility.
The Indian Culture portal is designed to provide knowledge and cultural resources of the Ministry of Culture. It hosts documents, images, audio-video files, and other data from archives, museums, academies, and libraries across the nation. The portal features stories, write-ups, and pictures on cuisines, festivals, paintings, folk art, classical art, and UNESCO World Heritage Sites from different states of India.
Currently, the content on the Indian Culture portal is available in English and Hindi language, and will be available in other regional languages in the future. The data curation for the portal was handled by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). The portal was developed by a team from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay.
The Indian Culture portal is now accessible to the public, marking a significant step towards global engagement with Indian culture, enhancing cultural exchange and appreciation internationally. By promoting cultural tourism and education, it can contribute to economic growth through increased interest in India's cultural heritage. The portal, thus, plays a crucial role in showcasing India's cultural richness as part of the Digital India initiative, fostering a blend of traditional heritage and modern digital accessibility.
The Indian Culture portal, a product of the Digital India initiative, integrates with the Digital Library of India, offering a vast collection of e-books, journals, and other digital content. This action contributes to the preservation and dissemination of cultural knowledge through technology.
Scholars and researchers can access India's historical and traditional knowledge more easily due to the portal's technology-driven design, which aids in the deeper study and preservation of cultural heritage.
