Print and Censorship

Print and Censorship

• •Before 1798, the colonial state under the East India Company was not too concerned with censorship.

• •Local protest movements created a lot of popular journals.

• •The Company was worried that such criticisms might be used by its critics in England to attack its trade monopoly in India.

• •After the revolt of 1857, the attitude towards freedom of Press changed.

• •In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed.

• •In 1907, Balgangadhar Tilak wrote with great sympathy about Punjab revolutionaries in his ‘Kesari’.

• •This led to his imprisonment in 1908, provoking in turn widespread protests all over India.