Budget 2023: One lakh ancient inscriptions to be digitized under 'Bharat SHRI', says FM Sitharaman

New Delhi [India], February 1 : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2023 on Wednesday said a specialized repository will be made in a digital epigraphy museum by the digitization of one lakh ancient inscriptions in the first stage.
Speaking in Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said, "Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions (Bharat SHRI) will be set up in a digital epigraphy museum, with digitization of one lakh ancient inscriptions in the first stage"
Finance Minister further spoke about National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents.
"A National Digital Library for children and adolescents will be set-up for facilitating the availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels, and device agnostic accessibility," she said.
The Finance Minister said States will be encouraged to set up physical libraries for them at panchayat and ward levels and provide infrastructure for accessing the National Digital Library resources.
Additionally, to build a culture of reading, and to make up for pandemic-time learning loss, Sitharaman said the National Book Trust, Children's Book Trust and other sources will be encouraged to provide and replenish noncurricular titles in regional languages and English to these physical libraries.
Collaboration with NGOs that work in literacy will also be a part of this initiative. To inculcate financial literacy, financial sector regulators and organizations will be encouraged to provide age-appropriate reading material to these libraries, added the Minister.