Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt launched Western India’s first daily Sanskrit newspaper ‘Sanskrit Vartaman Patram’ in Vadodara on Sunday in presence of Sanskrit students from MS University and Somnath University and a huge gathering of other dignitaries.

The newspaper was launched on Sunday amidst a huge gathering of dignitaries and Sanskrit students from M S University and Somnath Sanskrit University.

The newspaper, which has already hit the stands, caters to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, and Union Territory of Diu, Daman and Dadra Nagar Haveli.

Priced at Rs 1.50, the four-page daily will be published from here and cover local, national and international news and the annual subscription is Rs 500, Editor Praful Purohit said.

Speaking on the occasion, Bhatt lauded the efforts of the editorial board and said their objective should be to cater to everyone in the society including scholars who desire to read newspaper in the language they love.

M L Wadekar, Director, Oriental Institute of M S University and one of the members on the Editorial Board said that after receiving a good response to the pilot copy of this newspaper, they decided to launch it.

For enabling its readers to understand the language, the paper will include glossary of Sanskrit words translated in Gujarati, Hindi, English and other languages, he said.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi in a message said such efforts should be made to revive the glory of the world’s oldest language and further it.

Bhagyesh Jha, Secretary, Youths Culture and Sports, Gujarat government said the launch of a daily in Sanskrit is a positive beginning to popularise the language in the state.