(a) the total number of newspapers registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) in the country at present name, lan- guage and State/UT-wise;
(b) the number of titles had been granted and rejected and grounds for their rejection during the last three years State/UT-wise; and
(c) whether the Government proposes to open branch offices of RNI in various States and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING {COL RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE (Retd.)}
(a) A total number of 1,05,443 newspapers / peri- odicals are registered with the Registrar of News- papers for India (RNI) as on 31.03.2015. Details of number of publications, language and State/UT- wise, are attached at Annexure-I and II, respec- tively. Other details, including names of regis- tered publications etc. in various States/UTs are available in RNI’s website www.rni.nic.in.
(b) The number of titles had been granted and re- jected during the last three years are as follows:
Year Accepted Rejected
2012-13 7229 6587 2013-14 12379 7373 2014-15 13374 6114
Request for a proposed title is rejected under Section 6 of the PRB Act, 1867 on the grounds of same as or similar to that of any existing newspaper published either in the same language or in the same State. The State/UT- wise number of titles approved and rejected for the last three years is attached at Annexure-III.
(c) At present there is no proposal to open more offices of RNI other than the existing branch offices at Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati and Bhopal.