(a) whether there is any plan to promote tourism in those places where some ancient books/ hand written religious books etc. are lying in the country;
(b) whether such rare books are lying in Sadhu Ashram and Kamahi Devi, Hoshiarpur;
(c) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to protect these books; and
(d) the funds allocated by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR CULTURE & TOURISM
(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)
(a): The Ministry of Tourism as part of its ongoing promotional activities releases campaigns in the international and domestic markets and also undertakes other promotional activities under the Incredible India brand-line with the objective to promote India as a holistic destination for tourists. Various tourism destination and products of India are also promoted through the website of the Ministry of Tourism. No specific promotion has been undertaken on places where some ancient book/hand written religious books etc are lying in the country.
(b) to (d): The National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) documents, digitizes, preserves and conserves only the hand written and knowledge based materials which are at least of 75 years old. Accordingly, NMM documented 2718 such manuscripts from Sadhu Ashram and 20 manuscripts from Kamahi Devi, Hosiarpur.
A Manuscript Conservation Centre (MCC) was opened in Sadhu Ashram, Hosiarpur to conserve and preserve manuscripts in the state of Punjab which was closed in 2010.
National Mission for Manuscripts funded an amount of total Rs. 23.36 lakh to document and Rs. 1.50 lakh to conserve and preserve the manuscripts in the state of Punjab.