Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s science museum network has found a place in the Centre’s ongoing digital heritage preservation drive, according to a written reply tabled in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
The state’s contribution to the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), which operates 26 units nationwide, includes three key installations. These are the Regional Science Centre in Bhubaneswar, the Dhenkanal Science Centre in Dhenkanal, and the Science Park at Kapilash, according to an official statement.
The minister stated that NCSM, functioning under the Ministry of Culture, remains at the forefront of research and development in museum display technologies.
The council has been integrating augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, computer vision and sensor-based interaction to enhance visitor engagement across its centres.
An Annual Action Plan is prepared by NCSM every year for upgradation, renovation and modernisation of its museums, it was noted. Motion tracking, eye-tracking, smart content adaptation and touchless interaction have been cited as focus areas to make exhibits more dynamic and accessible.
While the Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science has funded modernisation at six science centres in Jharkhand, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur, Odisha’s centres were not named among this round of upgrades.
The disclosure comes amid a wider digitisation effort by the Ministry of Culture. This includes the JATAN software developed by C-DAC, Pune, for museum and archival digitisation, and the Gyan Bharatam Mission, under which over 3.5 lakh digitised manuscripts have been made publicly accessible. The National Archives of India has also been uploading records on its Abhilekh Patal portal for researchers and the public.
