Has Sanskrit reached a dead end in India...This shows the callousness of our Government which goes all the way to support other Foreign languages such as Arabic...What an irony that Sanskrit which is the language of Indian tradition is in dire need of funds to sustain a daily
Sanskrit daily struggling to stayafloat
R. KrishnaKumar
The Hindu
Uncertaintyhaunts the future of Sudharma, the country’s only Sanskrit news dailyprinted from Mysore, as the absence of government subsidy and advertisementsupport has made it difficult to sustain.
In a digitalage where print is perceived to be on the decline, it is indeed a remarkableachievement to keep a newspaper going, especially in a language considered“dead” in popular perception.
However, thefounding-editor Pandit K.N. Vardaraja Iyengar, who launched the newspaper in1970, did not venture into publishing for revenue but with an entirelyaltruistic motive. “The sole objective of launching the Sanskrit daily was topropagate the language “spoken by the gods”, and not for economic gain,” sayshis son and present editor K.V. Sampath Kumar.
Mr. Sampathlaunched its e-paper a few years ago in tune with the evolving digital age andto reach out to a global audience of Sanskrit enthusiasts. “Though the reachhas widened, it has had little impact on revenue,” says Mr. Sampath, who ispassionate about promoting Sanskrit. But the economic reality of running anewspaper without revenue is beginning to bite.
Sudharma has a printorder of 3,000 copies a day and is despatched across India by post. However,the print and postal costs are adding to the growing expenditure, Mr. Sampathsays.
While it makeseconomic sense to discontinue the print version and retain the digital version,Mr. Sampath believes not all subscribers of Sudharma may have access tothe Internet, and so he persists in continuing the print edition.
In the initialstages, Sudharma could sustain itself. “But with rise in printing costsand the logistics of supplying the paper to the daily subscribers, sustaining ano-profit, no-loss model has become difficult,” says Mr. Sampath, who isreporter, sub-editor, proof-reader, editor, and publisher of his daily.
Sanskrit daily struggling to stayafloat
R. KrishnaKumar
The Hindu
Uncertaintyhaunts the future of Sudharma, the country’s only Sanskrit news dailyprinted from Mysore, as the absence of government subsidy and advertisementsupport has made it difficult to sustain.
In a digitalage where print is perceived to be on the decline, it is indeed a remarkableachievement to keep a newspaper going, especially in a language considered“dead” in popular perception.
However, thefounding-editor Pandit K.N. Vardaraja Iyengar, who launched the newspaper in1970, did not venture into publishing for revenue but with an entirelyaltruistic motive. “The sole objective of launching the Sanskrit daily was topropagate the language “spoken by the gods”, and not for economic gain,” sayshis son and present editor K.V. Sampath Kumar.
Mr. Sampathlaunched its e-paper a few years ago in tune with the evolving digital age andto reach out to a global audience of Sanskrit enthusiasts. “Though the reachhas widened, it has had little impact on revenue,” says Mr. Sampath, who ispassionate about promoting Sanskrit. But the economic reality of running anewspaper without revenue is beginning to bite.
Sudharma has a printorder of 3,000 copies a day and is despatched across India by post. However,the print and postal costs are adding to the growing expenditure, Mr. Sampathsays.
While it makeseconomic sense to discontinue the print version and retain the digital version,Mr. Sampath believes not all subscribers of Sudharma may have access tothe Internet, and so he persists in continuing the print edition.
In the initialstages, Sudharma could sustain itself. “But with rise in printing costsand the logistics of supplying the paper to the daily subscribers, sustaining ano-profit, no-loss model has become difficult,” says Mr. Sampath, who isreporter, sub-editor, proof-reader, editor, and publisher of his daily.
