The Ministry of Culture formally launched the Gyan Bharatam Mission with a three-day international conference at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi from September 11 to 13, 2025. The launch date was chosen for its symbolism — September 11 marks the anniversary of Swami Vivekananda's 1893 Chicago address that introduced India's spiritual and intellectual traditions to the world stage. Gyan Bharatam is a national initiative to preserve, digitise and disseminate India's vast manuscript heritage, with the Standing Finance Committee later sanctioning ₹491.66 crore for the period 2025 to 2031. Over 44.07 lakh manuscripts have already been documented in the Kriti Sampada digital repository that feeds the Mission. The inaugural international conference, organised in hybrid mode, features an inaugural and valedictory session, 4 plenary sessions and 12 technical sessions covering conservation and restoration of manuscripts, survey and documentation standards, AI-driven innovations like Handwritten Text Recognition and script decipherment, translation frameworks, capacity building in manuscriptology, and copyright issues. More than 1,100 participants are attending — including 95 academics, 112 research scholars, 230 students, 179 professionals and 22 administrators — alongside 17 national and 17 international speakers. Eight specialised pre-conference working groups of scholars and cultural dignitaries have been constituted to shape the Mission's roadmap across archaeology, conservation science, law, technology and cultural diplomacy. The overall vision aligns with Viksit Bharat 2047 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Virasat aur Vikas" framework, blending heritage preservation with modern digital and AI tools.