‘’THE VERNACULAR PRESS ACT 1878 :
CONTROL, RESISTANCE AND
NATIONALISM.’’
‘The question of vernacular as media of instructions is
of national importance ; neglect of the vernacular
means national suicide’.
- MAHATMA GANDHI
The freedom of the press had been a challenge for the British
administration since the establishment of print media in the
18th century in India. The eighteenth century was the time
when there was noexistence of television, radio and
computer technology for the dissemination of information
among the masses. The only medium for the diffusion of
ideas was the Newspaper i.e. Printing press.
During the 1780s, the first Indian Newspaper was
commenced by James Augustus Hickey , titled ‘THE BENGAL
GAZETTE’ . It was the first printed newspaper of Asia. Hickey’s
newspaper criticised and opposed the corruption of the
British administration of Warren Hastings. Due to its anti-
colonial nature, it was immediately censored by colonial
authorities.
Throughout the Pre-Independence period, Press faced
censorship but also emerged as a vital catalyst in the freedom
struggle by transmitting colonial narratives , promoting
political and national consciousness and preparing the
masses to be vigilant through editorials & news.
Print media has two broad categories: language or vernacular
press . The term ‘vernacular press’ refers to newspapers
published in the local language of any region . A diverse
country like India had a diverse number of newspapers in
vernacular languages at the time of the freedom struggle .
The emergence of printing by Jesuit and protestant
missionaries in the 16th century introduced the vernacular
press . The first Tamil booklet was published in Lisbon in 1554
and,the first Gujarati newspaper , Bombay Samachar
published in early 1820.
Generally , the growth of the vernacular press increased after
the 1857 revolt with numbers increasing from 169 in 1877 to
over 500 in 1905 .
Before and after 1857 , various acts were passed by the
British administration to restrict the freedom of the printing
press so that they could curb the emerging nationalist
consciousness of freedom struggle . These include The
Censorship of press act by Wellesley in 1799, Liscensing
regulation act by john adam in 1823 , Press act by metcalf in
1835, Registration act 1867 , vernacular press act 1878 and so
on.
The Vernacular press act made a landmark impact in the
history of censorship . As earlier acts were imposed on all
press and introduced for wartime security , the vernacular
press initiated to control vernacular newspapers such as
Amrit bazar Patrika , Bengal Times , Hindu Patriot etc. for the
repression of nationalism and anti-British criticism.
OBJECTIVES :
1] This research aims to focus on history of censorship and
print media in colonial India by giving more emphasis to the
Vernacular Press act in 1878.
2] To identify political social and cultural factors responsible
for the introduction of the vernacular press act 1878 and why
this act is different from other censorship acts .
3] To analyse its consequences on different regions across
india .
4]To investigate the relationship between colonial censorship
, political consciousness and the emergence of nationalism in
India during the freedom struggle .
5] To what extent does this act serve to form Indian public
opinion of the freedom movement.
SCOPE
This research aims to identify the various censorship acts
passed by theb colonial government during the late 18th and
early 19th centuries to suppress the nationalist sentiments
and anti-British ideology . Specifically focusing on the
vernacular press act 1878 , which resulted in the
development of nationalism not only dominated by
bourgeoisie class but also included various women , tribal
and peasant groups .
SOURCES
The research is primarily based on sources such as
government records , journals , newspapers , magazines ,
official records, personal letters and oral histories which are
self-possessed by National Archives of india alongside I also
refer to secondary sources to understand different
perspectives of historians while describing the Vernacular
Press Act 1878 . I also addressed the lacunae in existing
research and tried to accomplish it.
Keywords: freedom struggle, National Archives of India,
Bengal gazette, newspaper.