Guidelines for Admissibility of Titles for Registration of Periodicals 

As per powers conferred under Sec. 5(3)(C) of the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act 2023 (PRP Act), the Press Registrar General of India (PRGI) hereby issues the following guidelines. These guidelines will come into effect from 05.11.2024: 

1. In these Guidelines, unless the context otherwise requires, the terms/expressions used herein and not defined will have the same meaning as contained in the PRP Act and PRP Rules, 2024. 

2. Registration of periodicals will be considered by the Press Registrar General only in respect of periodicals as defined in Sec 2(g) of the PRP Act. 
   (As per Section 2(g) of the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023: "Periodical" means any publication, including a newspaper, which is published and printed at regular intervals containing public news or comments on public news, but does not include a book, or a journal including a book or journal of scientific, technical, and academic nature.) 

3. The title proposed for a periodical should be befitting the main objective for which the periodical is proposed to be published, i.e., public news or comments on public news. 

4. The proposed title should not contain words which might be construed as being against the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency, morality, contempt of court, defamation, or incitement to an offense. 

5. The publisher of a periodical, with the authorization of the owner, will file an online application to the Press Registrar General and the Specified Authority within whose local jurisdiction such periodical is proposed to be published, on the Press Sewa Portal for registration of the said periodical. While making an application for registration of a periodical, the publisher may suggest one or more titles, in order of preference, which are not the same or similar to a title already held by any other owner of a periodical either in the same language anywhere in India or in any other language in the same state. 

6. Before making an application for registration of a periodical, the applicant may check the exhaustive list of verified Titles available at the Press Sewa Portal and ensure that the proposed titles conform to these Guidelines. While the Titles appearing on the Press Sewa Portal are those that have already been verified, it does not imply that the Title(s) which are not in the list of verified Titles are necessarily available. The competent authority for approving or rejecting a Title is the Press Registrar General. 

7. If the application for registration of a periodical is for more than one language, it will be categorized as a bilingual/multilingual periodical and will be registered accordingly. When a periodical is regarded as bilingual or multilingual, it will have to mandatorily carry news/articles in all the languages in which the Title has been verified and the periodical registered. Violation of this condition may result in the withdrawal of the title in the language in which content is not being published. If any language is dropped from a bilingual/multilingual periodical, it will be issued a new registration number. 

8. Applicants who have registered periodicals in their name in the records of the Press Registrar General should ensure that the latest Annual Statement for the registered periodical(s) is duly filed online with the PRGI before applying for registration of a new periodical and that all penalties/fines imposed in respect of these already registered periodicals for violations of the provisions of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 (up to 29.02.2024) and for violations of the provisions of the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023 (after 01.03.2024) have been fully paid. 

9. The Titles of registered periodicals will be non-transferable for four years from the date of registration except in the case of the demise of the owner of such periodical. 

10. Registration of new editions of a periodical with a title falling in the categories specified under clauses 18(i), 19(k), 19(m) and 19(n) of these guidelines, will not be considered even if a periodical with such a title is already registered with PRGI. 

11. Registration of a periodical with Titles suggesting any association with a foreign country, city, or place which has no association with the place of publication of the periodical will not be considered by PRGI. 
    (Example: Application for registration of a periodical filed from any state of India with a proposed title like "South Africa Times", "Canada Times", or "New York Mirror" will not be accepted.) 

12. An applicant may apply for registration of a periodical with a new Title only after she/he has started the publication of the periodicals already registered in his/her name. 

13. The office of the Press Registrar General of India will not be responsible for the rejection of applications for registration of periodicals with a particular title due to reasons like spelling errors made by the applicant while filling out the application. 

14. The office of the Press Registrar General of India registers only periodicals as defined under Section 2(g) of the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023. Applications for registration from the following categories of applicants will not be entertained: 

1. News Agencies 

2. Feature Agencies 

3. News Websites 

4. News Channels (online and electronic) 

15. A proposed title will not be granted if the title by the same name is already registered as a Satellite TV Channel/FM Radio/Community Radio Station with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting unless the application is by the channel owner. 
    (Example: Titles like "News Nation", "News Time", "Aajtak News", "Akaashvani Times", "Dabang News", etc. will not be verified to applicants other than owners of such channels.) 

16. The PRGI may identify well-established titles based on the number of editions, duration of publishing, and circulation as "Well-known Titles". Any periodical with a proposed title (applied by anyone other than the original owner of the Well-known Title) which may give a false impression of being associated with the Well-known Title or may mislead the general public of having any connection with the Well-known Title will not be verified. The list of such well-established titles may be compiled by PRGI on an annual basis. 

17. The words to be used in a title should be in the same language in which the periodical is proposed to be published. However, if a title is already registered in a language, this condition will not be applicable if the same title is applied in another language subsequently. 

18. THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES OF TITLES WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR PROPOSED PERIODICALS: 

a. Titles in violation of "The Emblem and Name (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950" or any other law in force. 

b. Titles containing names of Government Departments, Government Organizations, Foreign Governments, International Organizations (e.g., UN, WHO, ILO) which suggest a misleading association with them. 

c. Titles attributing association with public welfare schemes of Central/State Governments or its organizations or local bodies, unless such titles are requested by the government organization concerned. 

d. Titles using words like ad/advertisement, classifieds, tender, real estate, press, calendar, panchaang, matrimonial, yellow pages/page (generally prefixed with white, pink, etc.), guide, diary, gist, fact sheet, pamphlet, brochure, directory, or any such publication which cannot be treated as a periodical. 

e. Titles containing abbreviations or acronyms such as B2B, A2Z, etc. 

f. Titles containing numerals or any form of signs and symbols including pictographs, videograms, hallmarks, logos, monograms, abbreviations, phonograms, emojis, etc. 

g. Titles containing non-text characters such as pictures or symbols. 

h. Titles that are inappropriate for a periodical (e.g., titles with names purely belonging to an individual, such as "Rajan Times", "Deepak Samachar", "Jitendra News", etc.). 

i. Titles that are prima facie absurd or meaningless, including those with mathematical symbols like "+", "*", etc. Titles with a meaningless combination of words like "Saptahik Weekly", "Sandhya Evening", or "Daily Dainik News" will not be accepted for verification. 

j. Titles with negative religious connotations. 

k. Titles that are obscene and offensive to public sentiments. 

l. Titles with negative connotations or those that could be misused with words like "crime" and "corruption". 

m. Titles similar to any national symbol, national motto, or suggesting misleading association with Central Government/State Governments/Local bodies. 

n. Titles using the name of regulatory/enforcement agencies in the country (e.g., "Police", "Bureau", "Investigation Department", "Vigilance", "CID", "CBI", Commission, defense establishment, etc.) except for applications by the Department concerned. 

o. Titles with the names of national leaders or those resembling the names of prominent national leaders, Heads of Government, and functionaries of Central and State governments will not be verified. However, names of recognized national and state political parties will be considered if applied by the organization concerned. 

p. Titles which are a combination of the titles of existing registered newspapers, and Titles combining two or more existing Titles or a part of any existing Title which does not make the new Title substantially different will not be verified. Inserting a word between two words of an existing Title will be considered similar unless it makes a significant difference in the meaning. 

q. Titles containing the same words of an existing Title whether in the same or different order. 

r. Titles formed by suffixing or prefixing the words relating to City, State, Periodicities, Language, prepositions/adjectives, articles (A, An, The) etc., to an existing Title will not be verified. (Examples: The Times, Daily, Dainik, Weekly, V/Wartha, Aaj, Today, Express, News, Khabar, Samachar, Bulletin, Diary, India, National, Rashtriya etc.) 

s. Titles formed by prefixing or suffixing the periodicity or the language of the proposed periodical to an already existing Title will not be verified. 

t. Titles appearing similar to an existing title on account of phonetic similarity, even if the spelling of the proposed Title is different will not be verified. 

u. Title options with words like Sarkar, Government, Parliament etc. will not be verified unless applied by the entity concerned. 

v. Root/generic/single words like Manthan, Darpan, Chronology, Inspire, Success, Khulasa, Rahasya, Katha, Herald, Batkahi, Nukkad, Crossroads, etc. will not be verified as a title. 

19. In case of any doubts on the verifiability and availability of a title for registration or regarding the interpretation of the same or similar clause, the decision of the Press Registrar General shall be final. 

20. Modification in title of a registered periodical will be allowed only when the change is necessitated due to statutory change in name of the place of publication/state as notified by the central/state/local authorities concerned, subject to availability of the modified title. If modification of such title is granted, the erstwhile title will be kept aside and will not be made available for registration for others. 
    (Example: If the applicant applies to modify the registered title from Allahabad Samachar to Prayagraj Samachar, the modification would be granted only if no same/similar titles are already verified/registered in the name of Prayagraj Samachar; and if the change is granted, the old title, ‘Allahabad Samachar’ will not be granted to any other new applicant.) 

21. If the proposed title is in languages other than Hindi or English, the meaning of the proposed title may be provided in English or Hindi in the application. 

22. The title of a periodical already registered is liable to be cancelled if the content of the periodical does not fall under the category ‘news and comment on public news’ or if the content of the periodical does not match the nature of content mentioned while applying for the Title. 

23. If a periodical is proposed to be brought out by a Government Department/Organization, the application for registration of such periodical will be made by the respective Head of Department and the Title will be verified in the name of the organization. 

24. All the letters/words within the verified title should be printed in the same font and nearly the same font size on the masthead of the Periodical. The variation in the font size should not be more than 20 percent. In case of violation, the title may be cancelled/registration suspended. If the title is printed using a script/language other than that of Hindi or English, it may be ensured that the title is also printed in Hindi or English script (in smaller font) in the masthead, in addition to the original language of title. 

25. The actual meaning of titles proposed shall be mentioned clearly by the applicant in their online application. 

26. The verification/grant of Title for the proposed periodical is only for the purpose of registration of the periodical with the Press Registrar General of India under the PRP Act, 2023.