What led the colonial government to pass the Vernacular Press Act in 1878 ? How did it affect the vernacular newspaper ?
OR
Who was Vaikom Muhammad Basheer ? Explain how most of his works were based on his own rich personal experience.
CBSE Class X Social Science LA (5 Marks)
Answers
(i) Nationalists in India used print media to publish the evil affects of British rule and spread new ideas.
(ii) As vernacular newspapers became assertively nationalist, the colonial government decided to take strong measures.
(iii) In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed which provided the government with intensive rights to censor reports and efitorials in the vernacular press.
(iv) The government started keeping regular track on vernacular newspapers. If it published some material which was considered to be seditious, the government seized the press and confiscated the printing machines.
(v) Despite repressive measures nationalist newspapers grew in numbers in all parts of India.
OR
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer was one of the early Muslim writers to gain wide renown as a novelist in Malayalam. Basheer had little formal education.
(i) Most of his works were based on his own rich personal experience rather than on books from the past.
(ii) His novels were written in ordinary language of conversation.
(iii) His books were full of wonderful humour.
(iv) His novels spoke about details from the everyday life of Muslim households.
British India, the Vernacular Press Act (Act of 1878) was enacted to curtail the freedom of the Indian press and prevent the expression of criticism toward British policies—notably, the opposition that had grown with the outset of the Second Anglo-Afghian War (1878–80).[1] The act was proposed by Lord Lytton, then Viceroy of India, and was unanimously passed by the Viceroy's Council on March 14, 1878. The act excluded English-language publications as it was meant to control seditious writing in 'publications in Oriental languages' everywhere in the country, except for the South.But the British totally discriminated the Indian Press.
The act empowered the government to impose restrictions on the press in the following ways:
1.) Modelled on the Irish press act, this act provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the Vernacular press.
2.) From now on the government kept regular track of Vernacular newspapers.
3.) When a report published in the newspaper was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned.
4.)No Indian was allowed to carry arms without license