Significant measures have been undertaken to strengthen digital access to India's cultural heritage through the upgraded Indian Culture Portal (ICP) Version 2.0, which was launched in March 2026. The upgraded portal has been developed with a modern, scalable, and secure architecture to provide seamless access to India's cultural resources. Key improvements include enhanced search capabilities, multilingual support, improved user interface and user experience, Progressive Web Application (PWA) functionality, AI-enabled chat bot, and integration with cultural institutions of Ministry of Culture.

The initiatives undertaken to improve accessibility, multilingual availability, user interface, public engagement and digital content on the Portal include:

1. Introduction of a modern and responsive user interface with improved navigation and accessibility.
2. Availability of content in 22 Indian languages through integration with the BHASHINI platform.
3. Deployment of an AI-powered chat bot, Bharti, enabling intelligent search, content discovery and multilingual interaction.
4. Advanced search and filtering features for efficient retrieval of cultural resources.
5. Development of the Portal as a Progressive Web Application (PWA) to enable access across desktops, tablets and mobile devices.
6. Adoption of a decoupled architecture using React and Drupal 10 for improved performance, scalability and security.
7. Addition of new thematic sections and curated cultural collections to enhance public engagement.

The Indian Culture Portal has established mechanisms for integration of cultural institutions through standard metadata exchange, APIs, and institutional onboarding. The Portal serves as a unified discovery platform by aggregating digital resources from museums, libraries, archives, monuments and other cultural institutions under the Ministry of Culture and partner organizations.

The upgraded Portal aims to promote wider public access and preservation of India's cultural heritage by:

1. Providing a single digital platform for access to cultural resources from multiple institutions.
2. Facilitating research through advanced search, metadata-based discovery and access to digitised collections.
3. Supporting students, researchers, educators and the general public through authenticated cultural information.
4. Enabling virtual exploration of museums, monuments, manuscripts, artworks and heritage collections.
5. Promoting awareness of India's tangible and intangible cultural heritage through curated thematic content.
6. Strengthening long-term digital preservation and accessibility of cultural resources.
7. Encouraging wider public participation through multilingual access and improved digital engagement.
8. Website accessible throughout the globe and responsive in all screen sizes (Desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile phone)

A State/UT-wise list of Institutions integrated with Indian Culture Portal is at Annexure-A.

This information was given by Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a written reply in Lok Sabha today

 

Annexure-A

 

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M Annadurai

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