During most of the years under British rule proprietors suffered from crippling restrictions on freedom of expression. In the years when the fight for independence was at its hottest, the press was handcuffed. But Gandhi and other leaders managed to use newsprint to help their cause. After independence was gained, reconciliation prevailed for a time, for the government was that which the press, in the main, had desired all along, and constitutional change owed much to the press’ support. But with the new political parties, of which India has many, appearing on the scene, and the subsiding of emotional nationalism, new papers with dissident political aims were issued. Some older publications began finding fault with government, which ever since Britain left has been in the hands of one party: the Congress, that of Nehru and his daughter, the prime minister of India. Communal propaganda, vicious during the pre-independence years, broke out once more in the press. Just as lamentable, perhaps, was the letting down of bars against sensationalism, a relaxation that S. Natarajan, an historian of the press himself long prominently active in India’s journalism, blames on the desire for sales and excessive competition.
India’s government set up a committee to study the existing press laws. It recommended abolition of those aimed particularly at the press and their transfer instead to the main body of national law. But by 1951, when some recommendations had been acted upon, the traditional animosity between press and government was being renewed, mainly over a certain constitutional amendment affecting the press to which the latter objected. New legislation related to the publications followed. Proprietors and the working journalists’ groups alike brought pressure for a Press Commission. Such a body was appointed in 1952. A major result from the extensive work of this commission has been the annual report of the Registrar of Newspapers and the general fact-finding that is going on concerning the press, until lately lacking in dependable records. Government action re the press since has not been uniformly satisfactory to one element or another in professional circles. One important recommendation still is to be implemented: setting up of a Press Council. A bill has been introduced but it has met opposition because its critics believe it will give the government dangerous power.
New regulations were set up during the 1962 conflict with China. These strictures, called the Defense of India Rules, really were a revival of similar legislation used under British rule. At first the government did not have to impose them, the tide of patriotism running high. In 1963, however, the war being over, the authorities deemed it necessary to warn four publications supposedly violating the rules, but the warnings soon were withdrawn, since they were judged illegal. Under a revised procedure, the rules were implemented several times in 1965, but the new procedure, it was alleged, was violated by the authorities in a number of instances. Those arrested were staff members of an Urdu paper, a large English daily, and two Tamil papers, among others.
The registration system, a scheme which disturbs those accustomed to merely hiring a printer and issuing what they like short of libel, obscenity, and sedition, actually was begun in 1867. Dr. Nadig Krishna Murthy, the historian of India’s journalism, describes it thus:
The Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867: This Act provides for the regulation of printing press and of periodicals containing Hindi news, for the preservation of copies of every book printed or lithographed in India and for the registration of such books. Under this Act, no press can be kept by any person unless he had declared himself as keeper of such a press before a Magistrate, giving his address and other details. No newspaper may be published unless the publisher thereof had made a similar reclamation. The object of these provisions is to locate responsibility for the publication of books and newspapers so that in case they offended against law, action may be taken against the offender. The Act also provides for the depositing of published books with the Registrar of Books. The act calls for a series of reports to the government and of the appearance in the publication of certain facts, such as the editor’s and proprietor’s names. Certificates of registration and numbers are issued. Dr. Murthy records ten federal laws applying to the press today, not including the Defense of India Rules.
