Question
Download Solution PDFVernacular press Act was enacted in which year?
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)
Detailed Solution
Download Solution PDFThe correct answer is 1878.
Key Points
- Vernacular press act 1878
- British India passed the Vernacular Press Act (1878) to restrict press freedom and discourage criticism of British policy, notably the opposition that had risen since the commencement of the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–80).
- The Act was submitted by Lytton, the Viceroy of India at the time, and on March 14, 1878, the Viceroy's Council unanimously approved it. In order to "better control" the vernacular press and effectively penalise and prohibit "seditious literature" in "publications in oriental languages," the Vernacular Press Act (VPA) was passed.
- As a result, the British had nothing but hatred for the (non-English speaking) Indian press.
Additional Information
- The Bengal Gazette was the first newspaper to be printed in India. James Hickey, the editor of this publication, was a vocal opponent of the East India Company. The newspaper was shut down as a result within two years of starting to publish.
- The Bengal Gazette served as the model for a number of Indian newspapers that are presently printed in all major languages. These journals carried editorials that were anti-colonial and attacked the East India Company's haughtiness.
- The existence of such columns was crucial in educating the rapidly emerging educated Indian class about the brutal colonial authority that had been imposed upon India by a force that professed to support democracy.
- The East India Company, which wished to uphold its hegemony in India despite all obstacles, was harmed by this. Especially when the Second Anglo-Afghan War began in 1878, newspapers like Amrita Bazar Patrika and others were vociferous in their condemnation of the British in India.
- Viceroy Lord Lytton, therefore, created the Vernacular Press Act in 1878 to regulate seditious reports in vernacular newspapers published in India in an effort to stop this.
Due to the agitation, it produced among the Indians, Lord Ripon abolished the Vernacular Press Act in 1881.
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