Question

Which of the following is true about the Vernacular Press Act, 1878?
i) It was passed by Lord Mayo.
ii) It came to be known as the ‘Gagging Act’.
iii) It liberated the Indian press from restrictions.
iv) It was replaced by Lord Ripon in 1882.
Choose the correct answer from the codes given below:

• A. a) i and ii
• B. b) ii and iv
• C. c) i and iii
• D. d) iii and iv

Answer 1

The correct option is B b) ii and iv

Ans: b

Right after the revolt of 1857, Lord Canning passed an act making it mandatory for newspaper publishers to obtain licences and submit material for vetting prior to publication. The Act also held that no licensed press should publish printed material impugning the motives of the British Raj, tending to bring it hatred and contempt and exciting unlawful resistance to its orders. When the British Government found that the Act was not potent enough to repress all Nationalist sentiments, it went on to create a more forcible law, which came as the Vernacular Press Act of 1878. It was passed under the Governor Generalship of Lord Lytton, for ‘better control” of Indian language newspapers. The purpose of the Act was to control the printing and circulation of seditious material, calculated to produce disaffection against the British Government in India in the minds of the ignorant, uneducated and largely illiterate masses.

The act came to be nicknamed "Gagging Act". The community of editors and printers unanimously outraged the Act. All the prominent leaders condemned the Act as unwarranted and unjustified, and demanded for its immediate withdrawal. It was repealed on December 7, 1881, when Lord Ripon was Governor General and Viceroy of India.