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Development of Press

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  1. The Bengal Gazette / Calcutta General Advertiser (1780)
    1. James Augustus Hickey 
    2. 1st news paper
    3. Seized in 1872 bcos it criticised govt
  2. Early regulation
    1. Censorship of Press Act, 1799 - pre-censorship
      1. By Lord Wellesley
      2. Relaxed by Lord Hastings
    2. Licensing Regulations,1823
      1. John Adams
      2. Press without license was a penal offence
      3. Against Indian language and Indian editors
      4. Rammohun Roy's Mirat-ul-akbar has to stop
    3. Press act of 1835 / Metcalfe Act
      1. Repealed 1823 ordinance
      2. Metcalfe became liberator of the Indian press
      3. Just precise address of press
      4. Press grew rapidly
    4. Licensing Act 1857
      1. Bcos of revolt
    5. Registration Act 1867
      1. Replaced Metcalfe act
      2. Regulatory not restrictive
      3. Print name, place and a copy to local govt in 1 month
  1. Struggle by Early Nationalist to secure press freedom
    1. The Hindu and Swadesamitran - G. Subramaniya Aiyar
    2. The Bengalee -  Surendranath Banerjea
    3. Voice of India - Dadabhai Naoroji,
    4. Amrita Bazar Patrika - Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh,
    5. Indian Mirror - N.N. Sen,
    6. Kesari (in Marathi) and Maharatta (in English) - Balgangadhar Tilak,
    7. Sudharak under Gopal Krishna Gokhale,
    8. Hindustan and Advocate under G.P. Verma
    9. Tribune and Akbhar-i-am in Punjab, Gujarati,
    10. Indu Prakash, Dhyan Prakash and Kal in Bombay
    11. Som Prakash, Banganivasi and Sadharani in Bengal.
  2. VENACULAR PRESS ACT 1878 / Gagging act
    1. Lytton's Delhi Durbar during famine in 1976-1877
    2. Press was critical so the act
    3. Features
      1. DM
        1. Empowered to enter into bond with press
        2. DM action final and no appeal
      2. Exception if proofs submitted
      3. Discrimination between vernacular and English press
      4. Amrita Bazar Patrika turned English overnight
      5. Proceeding against Som Prakash, Bharath mihir, daccca prakash, samachar
    4. Nicknamed gagging act
    5. Ripon repealed it in 1882
    6. Surendra Nath Banerjee arrested - 1st Indian journalist to be imprisoned
    7. Tilak arrest
      1. Used Ganapati festival and shivaji festivals to build anti-imperialist sentiments among public
      2. Kesari and Maharatta his mouthpiece
      3. All Maharashtra campaign to boycott foreign cloth and tax on cotton
      4. Wanted to bring lower middle class, the peasants, artisans and workers into congress
      5. No-tax campaign in MH if crops failed
      6. 1897 - Plague in poona
        1. Tilak supported govt
        2. But harsh methods of searching houses
        3. W.C.Rand plague commissioner was killed by chapekar bros
        4. Tilak arrested - 18 months prison
          1. Shivaji's utterance in Kesari
          2. Speech justifying Shivaji killing Afzal Khan
          3. Overnight - lokmanya i.e respected and honoured by the people
    8. 1892 - Amended Sec124A and added Sec153A to make it criminal offence
    9. Newspaper(incitement to offences) act 1908
    10. Indian Press Act 1910   - revived VPA
      1. Tilak sent to Burma for 6 years
      2. Widespread protest so Lenin said entrance of working class on the political stage
  3. During and after WW1
    1. Defence of India rules supressed political agitation
    1. Press Act 1908 and 1910 repealed after recommendation from Press committee chaired by Tej Bahadur Sapru
    2. Indian Press (Emergency Powers) Act 1931
      1. To supress CDM
  4. During WWII
    1. Defence of Indian rules - pre censorship introduced
    2. Publication of all news related to congress activity was declared illegal
  5. After Independence
    1. Press Enquiry committee 1947
    2. Press objectionable matters act 1951
    3. Press commission under justice Rajadhyaksha
      1. All India press council
      2. Banned crosswords
      3. Strict code for ads