Beginning of the Press

• 1780– The Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser was the 1st newspaper in India started by James Augustus Hickey
• 1872– Seized because of its outspoken criticism of the Government.
• Later more newspaper + journal came.
  1. The Bengal Journal
  2. The Calcutta Chronicle,
  3. The Madras
  4. Courier,
  5. The Bombay Herald, etc.
• The growth of newspapers and their political character worried the Company’s officers that they might reach London and expose their misdeeds.
• Therefore–> curbs on the press.

1799- Censorship of Press Act, 1799

• Enacted by Lord Wellesley anticipating French invasion of India.
• It imposed almost wartime press restrictions including pre-censorship.
• Later Lord Hastings relaxed it.. he was a progressive officer in 1818 and pre-censorship was removed.

1823- Licensing Regulations, 1823

• John Adams= then Governor-General had reactionary views.
• He enacted these to regulate the press and made starting or using a press without licence was a penal offence.
• It was also extended to cover journals, pamphlets, and books.
• They were directed mainly against Indian language newspapers or those edited by Indians.
• Rammohan Roy had to stop Mirat-ul-Akbar publication.

1835- Press Act of 1835 (Metcalfe Act)

• Charles Metcalfe, the governor-general in 1835-36, repealed the obnoxious 1823 ordinance.
• Hence, he has been given the epithet, “liberator of the Indian press”.
• A new Press Act (1835) was passed.
• It required a printer/publisher to give a precise account of premises of a publication and cease functioning if required by a similar declaration.
• This liberal press policy fuelled a rapid growth of newspapers in India.

1857- Licensing Act, 1857

• The 1857 revolt caused the enactment of this Act.
• It imposed licensing restrictions in addition to the already existing registration procedure laid down by Metcalfe Act.
• Additionally, the government also reserved the right to stop publication and circulation of any book, newspaper, or printed matter.

1867- Registration Act, 1867

• It replaced the Press Act of 1835.
• It was of a regulatory nature not restrictive.
• As per the Act:
  • Every book/ newspaper was required to print the name of the printer and the publisher and the place of the publication.
  • A copy was to be submitted to the local government within 1 month of the publication of a book.

The press proved a crucial tool in the hands of the nationalists.

• Several newspapers were started by them during these years.

1. The Hindu and Swadesamitran under G. Subramania Aiyar
2. The Bengalee under Surendranath Banerjee
3. Voice of India under Dadabhai Naoroji
4. Amrita Bazar Patrika under Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh
5. Indian Mirror under N.N. Sen
6. Kesari (in Marathi) and Maharatta (in English) under Tilak
7. Sudharak by G.K. Gokhale
8. Hindustan and Advocate by G.P. Verma.

• Government enacted many stringent laws.
• It even used Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code (Sedition) under which anyone trying to cause disaffection against the British Government in India was to be transported for life or for any term or imprisoned up to 3 years.
• The writings hostile to the government used to be prefaced with sentiments of loyalty to the government and critical writings of socialists or Irish nationalists from newspapers in England used to be quoted.

1878- Vernacular Press Act

• Lord Lytton was staunch conservative.
• The Indian newspapers became highly critical of Lord Lytton’s administration for conducting imperial Delhi Durbar and especially of its inhuman treatment to victims of the famine of 1876-77.
• Lytton struck back with the Vernacular Press Act, 1878.
• It was designed to ‘better control’ the vernacular press and effectively punish and repress seditious writing.
• Nicknamed “The Gagging Act”.

Provisions of Vernacular Press Act

• It empowered the district magistrate to call upon the printer and
publisher of any vernacular newspaper to enter into a bond with the government undertaking not to cause disaffection against the
government.
• The printer and publisher were required to deposit security which could be forfeited if the regulations were not followed.
• The press equipment could be seized if the offence re-occurred.
• The magistrate’s action was final and no appeal could be made in a
court of law.

• A vernacular newspaper could get an exemption from the operation of
the Act by submitting proofs to a government censor.
• These were not applicable to the English newspapers.
• There was a huge protest against the Act.
• Lord Ripon repealed it in 1882.