sir alexander john arbuthnot passed the vernacular press act in 1878.
sir alexander john arbuthnot passed the vernacular press act in 1878.
who passed the vernacular press act in 1878?
sir alexander john arbuthnot
by 1880, a new middle class had arisen in india and spread thinly across the country. moreover, there was a growing solidarity among its members, created by the "joint stimuli of encouragement and irritation." the encouragement felt by this class came from its success in education and its ability to avail itself of the benefits of that education such as employment in the indian civil service. it came too from queen victoria's proclamation of 1858 in which she had declared, "we hold ourselves bound to the natives of our indian territories by the same obligation of duty which bind us to all our other subjects." indians were especially encouraged when canada was granted dominion status in 1867 and established an autonomous democratic constitution. lastly, the encouragement came from the work of contemporaneous oriental scholars like monier monier-williams and max müller, who in their works had been presenting ancient india as a great civilisation. irritation, on the other hand, came not just from incidents of racial discrimination at the hands of the british in india, but also from governmental actions like the use of indian troops in imperial campaigns (e.g. in the second anglo-afghan war) and the attempts to control the vernacular press (e.g. in the "vernacular press act of 1878").
british raj
vernacular press act









































in british india, (the vernacular press act, 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-afghan war (1878–80). the act was proposed by lord lytton, then viceroy of india, and was unanimously passed by the viceroy's council on 14 march 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.
vernacular press act