Lok Sabha Q&A: National Cultural Mapping Mission (NMCM) Achieves 98% Village Mapping Coverage, Aimed at Rural Economic Revitalization
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities (Culture & Heritage)
Ministry of Culture
The National Mission on Cultural Mapping (NMCM), launched in 2017, is a comprehensive initiative by the Ministry of Culture aimed at digitally mapping, preserving, and promoting India’s cultural heritage. The ultimate mission is to create a cultural map that acts as a mechanism to revitalize rural economies and promote self-reliance in Village India.
Village Mapping (Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar - MGMD): The primary component is the ‘Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar’ (MGMD) initiative, launched in June 2023.
Status: Out of 6,38,365 identified villages, 6,23,449 have been mapped, achieving nearly 98% coverage nationwide as of December 2025.
Data Captured: The centralized MGMD Web Portal captures diverse cultural assets, including oral traditions, art forms (like Phad, Gond, Warli, Kuchipudi dance, Pipli Applique), festivals, traditional cuisines, attire, prominent artists, and heritage sites (like Lepakshi Temple). It also includes cultural expressions and documentation of marginalized communities (like Bagata, Konda Dora, Koya tribal groups).
Leading States: Uttar Pradesh leads with 1,03,003 villages mapped, followed by Madhya Pradesh (56,429), West Bengal (40,429), and Bihar (39,563).
Platform Structure: The MGMD portal organizes data hierarchically (state-district-panchayat-village) across 12 categories. It supports community-driven updates via a moderated “Contribute“ tab and uses formats like village walkthrough videos to enhance accessibility.
Artist Support: The Mission aims to leverage the cultural inventory to create a comprehensive database of artists and art forms to streamline and rationalize financial grant schemes, ensuring transparency and effectiveness.
What is the Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar (MGMD) Portal? MGMD (My Village, My Heritage) is the dedicated, open-access online platform under the National Mission on Cultural Mapping, used to digitally profile and showcase the cultural inventory (art, traditions, festivals, landmarks) of nearly all 6.5 lakh villages across India.
Policy Relevance
The near-complete mapping provides a crucial, objective data layer for achieving a dual objective: preserving India’s diverse cultural identity while linking it directly to sustainable economic development at the grassroots level.
Empowering Rural Economies: By documenting and promoting unique cultural assets, the NMCM aims to foster economic activity, create livelihood opportunities, and promote self-reliance in Village India through cultural tourism and creative industries.
Decentralized Development: The mission is an exercise in decentralized, citizen-led development, using local community participation (Village Level Entrepreneurs and community members) to identify and monetize their own cultural assets.
Data-Driven Grant Allocation: The consolidated inventory is intended to create transparency and efficiency in the Ministry of Culture’s financial grant schemes by providing an objective, verifiable basis for rationalizing support to artists and cultural organizations.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: What mechanisms has the Ministry of Culture put in place to ensure that the NMCM data is actively utilized by other key ministries (e.g., Tourism, Rural Development) to drive the intended economic revitalization in the mapped villages?
Follow the full news here: LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 212