Existing efforts: NMMA and the ‘Indian Heritage’ app
NMMA has embarked on digitising unprotected monuments, sites and antiquities in line with its digitisation policy. In September 2023, NMMA launched the mobile application Indian Heritage, a single-access platform for protected monuments of national importance. The app includes high-resolution images, architectural descriptions and geo-tagged locations, making heritage accessible to the public.
ASI’s library digitisation: volume and limitations
The Archaeological Survey of India has digitised significant library holdings: 12,247 books and around one million pages that lie outside copyright restrictions. These materials are stored using cloud services and form part of an ongoing digital documentation initiative. ASI librarians regularly attend training programmes to keep pace with preservation best practices.
Why a national policy matters
Digitisation is only the first step. Without a comprehensive preservation policy, digital assets face risks from technology obsolescence, inconsistent metadata standards, fragmented storage practices and uncertain funding. A National Digital Preservation Policy would create standards for file formats, metadata, storage redundancy, access controls and legal frameworks that ensure records remain discoverable and trustworthy over decades.
Key components a policy should include
Experts suggest the policy should mandate standardised metadata schemas, sustainable storage strategies (including offline and multi-cloud redundancy), periodic format migration plans and accreditation for repositories. It should also define roles across central and state agencies, set workflows for intellectual property clearance, and include budgets for capacity building.
Inter-agency coordination and training
NMMA and ASI efforts highlight the importance of capacity building. Regular training for librarians and conservators is necessary but not sufficient. A national policy can formalise cooperative mechanisms among the Ministry of Culture, ASI, state archaeology departments, libraries, archives and academic institutions to share best practices, technical infrastructure and funding models.
Cloud storage is useful—policy makes it resilient
Storing digitised materials on cloud platforms offers scalability and accessibility, as ASI has demonstrated. However, cloud storage without policy safeguards risks vendor lock-in and format fragmentation. Preservation standards can require interoperable formats and contractual clauses that guarantee data exportability and long-term stewardship.
Public access and intellectual property
A national policy must balance open access and copyright safeguards. ASI’s approach to digitising non-copyrighted materials is a pragmatic step; a wider policy can define licensing frameworks, user access levels, and clearances to digitise copyrighted works for preservation and educational use.
Heritage as data — research and tourism benefits
Well-preserved digital heritage underpins academic research, school curricula and tourism services. High-quality, standardised digital records enable scholars to compare architectural features across regions, support virtual tourism products and feed AI tools that can enhance conservation planning.
Towards a coordinated roadmap
The government’s existing initiatives are fertile ground for a formal policy. A National Digital Preservation Policy would turn dispersed digitisation projects into a coordinated ecosystem preserving monuments, manuscripts and institutional memory for future generations. Officials and heritage stakeholders must now prioritise drafting standards, allocating funds, and setting time-bound implementation plans.
