Lok Sabha Question No. 68 (STARRED), answered on 2021-02-05
Subject: News in Sanskrit
Ministry: INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
Asked by: T. R. Paarivendhar, A. Ganeshamurthi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO.*68

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.02.2021)

## NEWS IN SANSKRIT

*68. DR. T.R. PAARIVENDHAR: SHRI A. GANESHAMURTHI:

Will  the  Minister  of  INFORMATION  AND  BROADCASTING be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  recently  ordered  mandatory telecast/broadcast of Sanskrit news in all regional channels of Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR);
- (b) if  so,  the  details  and  the  objectives  thereof  along  with  the reasons therefor; and
- (c) the  details  about  the  viewership  for  Sanskrit  news  in  the regional channels/stations of Doordarshan and AIR, State/UTwise?

ANSWER THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE CHANGE;  MINISTER  OF  INFORMATION  AND  BROADCASTING; AND MINISTER OF HEAVY INDUSTRIES AND PUBLIC ENTERPRISES (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF LOK  SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.*68  FOR  ANSWER  ON 05.02.2021

(a) & (b): Prasar Bharati as a public service broadcaster has a mandate  to  promote  all Indian languages  and  accordingly, broadcasts programmes and news in these languages.  To fulfil this policy, All India Radio has been broadcasting Sanskrit news bulletin  daily  on  its  network  across  the  country  since  1974. These  are  now  available  on  more  than  hundred  stations  of  All India Radio. A weekly news magazine programme called 'Sanskrit Saptahiki' has also been started from 4 th  July, 2020. Similarly,  Doordarshan  channels  are  also  telecasting  Sanskrit news  bulletin  'Vaarta'  (daily)  and  Sanskrit  news  magazine 'Vaartavali' (weekly).

(c):  TV  Viewership  data  for  Sanskrit  News  (Vaarta)  telecast  on Doordarshan channels is placed at Annexure A.

No data is available for Terrestrial/Satellite Medium Wave Radio Listenership presently. .

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ANNEXURE AS REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (c) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.68 FOR ANSWER ON 05.02.2021

Annexure A

PROGRAM: VAARTA (SANSKRIT NEWS) DD CHANNELS Performance Period: 3 rd  week of December, 2020 to 2 nd  week of January, 2021 Average Viewership in 000s Time: 7:15 am - 7.30 am, All Days

| Channel **       | Average Viewership in 000s                |
|------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| DD Punjabi       | 346                                       |
| DD Oriya         | 97                                        |
| DD News          | 54 * (4 weeks average of September, 2020) |
| DD Bangla        | 38                                        |
| DD Chandana      | 32                                        |
| DD Girnar        | 30                                        |
| DD Rajasthan     | 24                                        |
| DD Podhigai      | 20                                        |
| DD Bihar         | 13                                        |
| DD Saptagiri     | 12                                        |
| DD Malayalam     | 7                                         |
| DD Kashir        | 6                                         |
| DD Uttar Pradesh | 4                                         |

Source: Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)

* BARC has not monitored News channels since October, 2020.

** Data for other channels is awaited.