Pre-Independence Press in India

News Reporting Not New in India

• It is interesting to note that before the advent of Europeans, India had a system of news gathering & reporting

• Ancient & Medieval kings and emperors had spies who also acted as informers about political activities within and outside the

State

Special Political Reporters

• These special people were appointed by the royal courts

• They had their own network spread across regions

• They were highly respected in royal courts • A Venetian traveller during Emperor

Aurangzeb’s era has recorded about this system

Timeless Need For Political Information

• The kings and emperors would always need political information within their kingdom and from other kingdoms

• The British Crown could manage to consolidate its power only during the middle of the 19th Century

• The East India Company ruled parts of India before that

Portuguese Pioneers

• However, the first Europeans to start a printing press in India were not the British

• The Portuguese had already established printing in India as early as the 16th Century

• However, the main aim of the Portuguese was conversion

• The main aim of the British was trade, commerce, business and profits

British Supremacy & Suspicions

• In the ensuing power struggle, the British managed to establish their supremacy over the Indian subcontinent over a period of time

• India of that period had very poor rail and road infrastructure

• The British were highly suspicious and felt threatened by the reach of the Indian language press over the Indian masses and their influence on Indian public opinion

British Press Policies

• Their fears were not unfounded• Many local Indian language publications were

critical of British policies • The British established a complex code of

administrative rules to exercise control over the Non – English press

• The English press more or less was read by the British, the Anglo – Indians and the English-educated Indian elite

Anglicized Indians and Coming of The Mahatma

• Thanks to Macaulay’s policies, many educated Indians started to speak English, act and behave like English “ladies and gentlemen” and frowned upon Indian dressing, eating habits and general “native” behaviour

• Mahatma Gandhi was one of the prominent personalities who urged Indians to take pride in their own culture and heritage

Role of Indian Language Press in 18th Century

• The Indian nationalist press was the backbone of Indian Freedom Struggle from the latter part of the 19th Century

• These Indian publications spread awareness among Indians against the foreign rulers

• They touched the patriotic nerve of the country • They built up Indian Public Opinion against the

British

India – A Vast Nation

• However, the new administrative rules and regulations that were time and again introduced by the alarmed British made this difficult

• One has to remember that India is a vast and complex country with a multitude of languages and cultures

India v/s Bharat

• The Public at large was informed about political developments in local Indian languages

• There was a content divide between what the English press reported and what the Indian press reported

• This linguistic divide between English and Indian language press continues even today

• This divides India into two different countries from the point of view of media (India v/s Bharat divide)

Thank You ~ Saurabh Deshpande