NEW DELHI: Come July, the national public broadcaster, Doordarshan , will present a weekly ‘Sanskrit News Magazine’ focussing on events from around the world. The programme, divided into news, features and debates, will be entirely in Sanskrit DD officials are studying the trends and patterns with regard to Sanskrit use across the country in preparation for what they said is a much-awaited project. “We are putting in the best efforts to get reporters, editors and anchors fluent in Sanskrit, mostly on contractual basis. The half-an-our programme will be telecast on weekends. We will finalise the name in the next few days,” said Akshay Rout, additional director general (News), Doordarshan.Officials said the project was being planned ever since DD news telecast a special half hour bulletin in August 2014 duringtheSanskritWeek2014. The programme was widely appreciated. For the last many years, DD has had a news bulletin in Sanskrit called ‘Varta’ at 6.55 am everyday. However, there are plans to extend the duration to at least ten minutes in the coming days, said a DD official . “We are examining the feasibility of the existing bulletins. Right now, it is a five-minute bulletin, which I think is too short. It is neither here nor there. We may extend the time once we have the necessary staff,” said A Surya Prakash , chairman, Prasar Bharti.Rout added that the Sanskrit programme will look at showcasing not just current affairs but also stories of interest from around the world and that more features will be added, depending on the interest it generates. Help from expertsinSanskritisalsobeingtakento ensure the quality of the content.“We have unprecedented demand for sanskrit programmes in some states such as Uttarakhand , Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and even abroad. Doordarshan has channels and programmes in all languages, including Urdu. Why not Sanskrit?” said a DD official, adding that the programme will encourage households to renew interest in Sanskrit.The first Sanskrit bulletin on AIR was broadcast in 1974 almost four decades after the national radio service started in 1936. Officials said Sanskrit was the last language to be taken up by AIR’s news service division, after even Sindhi and Nepali.Plans for the news programmes in Sanskrit come in the wake of the focus on the language ever since the Modi government came to power. The broadcaster is also likely to see a big revamp in the coming months.Doordarshan will also present a weekly programme, “Good News India” in different languages to show how lives of people are being transformed across the country, said Rout. “The focus of news has always been on crime and mishaps but one must not focus that there are inspiring stories too in every day life. The objective of the programme will be to motivate people,” he added.