MODULE II
Renaissance in Indian Literature
Renaissance in Indian Literature has brought several significant changes in the overall writing styles and patterns. With the renaissance in Indian literature, readership has enlarged with a literary and education explosion.
Renaissance in Indian literature includes several significant creative works of renowned authors. Indian literature as a whole experienced a new beginning with the Hindu Renaissance in the beginning of mid 19th century. It was mostly centred around the Bengal province. Great authors like Rabindranath Tagore, Sarat Chandra Chatterjee and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee contributed significantly in the renaissance in Indian literature by establishing a literary genre. Renaissance is basically considered as an inspiration from the past and planning to rebuild the future. Thus, in this respect the renaissance in the life of a nation is like the coming of a new age. It is adolescence turning, into adulthood: romanticism and revolution replaced by reason, narcissism followed by disillusionment.
Over the past few decades the socio-political landscape of the country has changed drastically and there has been an atmosphere of spring clearance. The rural scene of the country also experienced changes with abundant harvests, more production, bonded labour and untouchability being, branded as heinous crimes, family planning reaching every needy door, dowry being banished and emergence of strong youth power. All this and more has its repercussions on Indian writing also. More writers are coming from the classes of peasants and workers. With the passage of time, more commercially motivated persons invaded the fields of publication and film making and journalism. Renaissance in Indian literature introduced a different style of Indian writing in different regional languages which is regarded as worthwhile and meaningful, writings of young writers, new experiments and exploration of new forms and ideas. Indian literary works started to depict the life of the poor and the depressed. In Bengali literature, the prose-poem gained popularity. Further, some poets have turned publicists. They used the broadcast media for poetic plays and other documentaries on current relevant topics.
The `Renaissance` signifying `rebirth` originated in Italy roughly between 14th and 17th century, was primarily a cultural uprising. But in India, renaissance originates as a social reform movement, probably in the nineteenth century, when the British were the domineering body of the Indian politics. Renaissance in India, materialized as a concept imitated from the West, punctuate a social reshuffling. Indian renaissance appears as a reawakening of the latent society, quivering with the threats of orthodoxy, dowry and narrow caste system. Moreover foreign colonialism at that time was an intense blight over India. Several social uprising and organisations were developed to liberate the society from the shackles of superstition. Quite visibly, literature composed during this period is the clear specimen of the socio-political ethos of the era.
Bengali Literature: Bengali Literature enthused with immense revolutionary zeal was instrumental for the reconstruction of the quiescent society of the time. It was the Bengali literature, which installed the very basis of literary and social development all over the country.
Hindi Literature: Hindi Literature of the time was the authentic replica of the splendid antique traditions with a touch of lenient and rhythmic prose.
South Indian Literature: Steeped in Renaissance tradition, South Indian Literature mainly underscores the human behaviour and situation.
Urdu Literature: Urdu Literature was however shifted from stimulating any social reforms rather it showed propensity for the cultural revitalisation.
In India, during the last few decades a new phase has been witnessed prominently and markedly sweeping through all literary output as an impact of the renaissance. It is the change in the language of the writer. Morality is rapidly changing, with growing urbanisation and industrialisation. Hence, as a result of the renaissance in Indian literature this sudden explosion of the writers mainly concern about the future of their nation. Moreover, science mindedness is in the air and science fiction has become an absorbing new field. However, Indo-Anglian writing has not responded fully to the changing reality as readily as has been seen in Indian languages. Thus, renaissance in Indian literature had an impact in every literary sphere.
Modern Indian Literature
The 19th Century Indian Renaissance
In almost all the Indian languages, the modern age begins with the first struggle for India’s freedom in 1857, or near that time. The impact of western civilization, the rise of political consciousness, and the change in society could be seen in what was written during that time. Contact with the western world resulted in India’s acceptance of western thought on the one hand, and rejection of it on the other, and resulted in an effort made to revive her ancient glory and Indian consciousness. A large number of writers opted for a synthesis between Indianization and westernization, in their search for a natinal ideology. All these attitudes were combined to bring about the renaissance in 19th century India. But it was a renaissance in a country which was under foreign domination. So it was not that kind of renaissance which had spread in 14th-15th century Europe, where scientific reasoning, individual freedom and humanism were the dominant characteristics. The Indian renaissance took a different shape, in the context of the Indian race, moment and milieu, and as a result, nationalistic, reformistic and revivalistic thinking found its way into literature, which slowly turned itself into a pan-Indian movement, spearheaded in different parts of the country by renaissance leaders like Raja Rammohun Roy (1772-1833), Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Vivekananda, Madhav Govind Ranade, U.V. Swaminatha Aiyer, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, K.V. Pantulu, Narmada Shankar Lalshankar Dave and othrs. The leaders of the renaissance, in fact, succeeded in instilling nationalistic fervour in the people, and induced in them a desire for social reform and a sentimental yearning for their past glory.
The most important literary event that revolutionalised literature was the emergence of literary prose in all the modern Indian languages, and the advent of the printing press, under the patronage of an Englishman, William Carey (1761-1834), at Serampore, Bengal. It is true that Sanskrit and Persian had a vast body of prose, but the necessity for prose in modern Indian languages, for use in administration and higher education, led to the emergence of prose in different languages at the beginning of the modern period. The birth of newspapers and periodicals in Indian languages between 1800 and 1850 was extremely important for the development of prose. and the missionaries of Serampore started off Bengali Journalism on its career. The emergence of prose as a powerful medium brought a kind of change that coincided with the process of modernization.
The Emergence of Nationalism
It is true that the idea of a modern state took root in Indian society because of India’s contact with western ideas, but very soon, Indian writers like Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (Bengali, 1838-1894) and others made use of this newly acquired concept of nationalism to attack colonial rule, and in the process created their own brand of nationalism, rooted in the soil. Bankim Chandra wrote many historical novels like Durgesh Nandini(1965), and Anand Math (1882), acquired a pan-Indian popularity and made nationalism and patriotism a part of dharma. This alternative was a distinctive civilizational concept of universalism that was accepted by many as a reply to western colonialism. Revivalism and reformism were natural corollaries of the newly emerging idea of nationalism. Rabindra Nath Tagore (Bengali, 1861-1942), the greatest name in modern Indian literature, made federalism an important part of his concept of national ideology. He said that the unity of India has been and shall always be a unity in diversity. The foundation for this tradition had been laid in India at the social level, not the political, by saints like Nanak, Kabir, Chaitanya and others. It is this solution-unity through acknowledgement of differences-that India has to offer to the world. As a result, India’s nationalism is mingled with its spiritual tradition, with truth and tolerance preached by Mahatma Gandhi, and non-alignment advocated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, showing India’s concern for its pluralism. Modern Indian pluralism is multi-lingual, multi-cultural, secular, national-state concept.
The Literature of Nationalism, Reformism and Revivalism
Patriotic writings proliferated almost spontaneously in different languages, as the resistance of a community against foreign rule. Rangalal in Bengali, Mirza Ghalib in Urdu and Bharatendu Harishchandra in Hindi expressed themselves as the patriotic voice of that era. This voice was, on the one hand, against colonial rule, and on the other, for the glorification of India. Besides, Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869) wrote ghazals in Urdu, about love, with unusual imagery and metaphors. He accepted life both as a joyous existence and as a dark and painful experience. Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824-73) wrote the first modern epic in an Indian language, and naturalised blank verse in Bengali. Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) was the great Tamil patriot-poet, who revolutionized the poetic tradition in Tamil. Themes from mythology or history were taken to write epics, by Maithili Saran Gupta (Hindi, 1886-1964), Bhai Vir Singh (Punjabi, 1872-1957), and others, with the express purpose of fulfilling the needs of the patriotic reader.
The birth of the novel is associated with the social reform-oriented movement of the 19th century. This new genre, borrowed from the West, is characterized by a spirit of revolt, right from its adoption into the Indian system. The first Tamil novel, Pratap Mudaliyar Charitram (1879) by Samuel V. Pillai, the first Telugu novel, Sri Ranga Raja Charitra (1872) by Krishnamma Chetty, and the first Malayalam novel, Indu Lekha (1889) by Chandu Menon were written with didactic intentions and to re-examine evil social customs and practices like untouchability, caste distinctions, denial of remarriage of widows, etc. In other first novels, like the Bengali novel, Phulmani O Karunar Bibaran (1852), by an Englishwoman, H. Catherine Mullens, or the Hindi novel, Pariksha Guru (1882) by Lala Sriniwas Das, one can discover shared patterns of response and articulation towards social problems.
Historical novels were written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (Bengali), Hari Narayan Apte (Marathi), and others, to describe the glorious past of India, and to instill nationalist fervour in her people. Novels were found to be the most appropriate medium to eulogize the intellectual and physical richness of the past, and reminded Indians about their obligations and rights. In fact, in the 19th century, the idea of national identity emerged from literature, and most Indian writings turned into the voice of enlightment. This paved the way for India to understand the real, factual position by the time it reached the threshold of the 20th century. It was during this time that Tagore started writing the novel Gora (1910), to challenge colonial rule, colonial criteria and colonial authority, and to give new meaning to Indian nationalism.
Indian Romanticism
The trend of Indian romanticism ushered in by three great forces influenced the destiny of modern Indian literature. These forces were Sri Aurobindo’s *(1872-1950) search for the divine in man, Tagore’s quest for the beautiful in nature and man, and Mahatma Gandhi’s experiments with truth and non-violence. Sri Aurobindo, through his poetry and philosophical treatise, ‘The Life Divine’, presents the prospect of the ultimate revelation of divinity in everything. He wrote mostly in English. Tagore’s quest for beauty was a spiritual quest, which attained fruition in the final realisation that service to humanity was the best form of contact with God. Tagore was aware of a supreme principle pervading nature and the entire universe. This supreme principle, or the unknown mystique, is beautiful, because it shines through the known; and it is only in the unknown that we have perpetual freedom. Tagore, a many-splendoured genius, wrote novels, short stories, essays and dramas, and never ceased to try out new experiments. His collection of poetry in Bengali, Gitanjali (song offerings), received the Novel Prize in 1913. Tagores’ poetry, after the award, inspired writers of different Indian languages to popularize the age of romantic poetry. The age of romantic poetry in Hindi is known as Chhayavad, the age of romantic mystery, in Kannada, is Navodaya, the rising sun, and in Oriya, it is known as Sabuj, the age of green. Jaishankar Prasad, Nirala, Sumitra Nandan Pant and Mahadevi (Hindi); Vallathol, Kumaran Asan (Malayalam); Kalindi Charan Panigrahi (Oriya); B.M. Srikantayya, Puttappa, Bendre (Kannada); Viswanath Satyanarayana (Telugu); Uma Shankar Joshi (Gujarati), and poets of other languages highlighted mysticism and romantic subjectivity in their poetry. The poets of Ravikiran Mandal (a group of six poets of Marathi) searched for the hidden reality in nature. Indian romanticism is fraught with mysticism – not like English romanticism, which wants to break puritanic shackles, seeking joy in Hellenism. In fact, the romantic trend of the modern times follows the tradition of Indian poetry, where romanticism indicates the Vedantic (the philosophy of one Reality) oneness between Nature and man, more along the lines of Vedic symbolism and not Paganism. Muhammad Iqbal (1877-198), the greatest poet that Urdu had produced, second only to Ghalib, went through initially a romantic-cum-nationalistic phase in his poetry. His best collection of Urdu poems is Bang-i-Dara (1924). His quest for Pan-Islamism did not deter him in his concern for humanity at large.
The Advent of Mahatma Gandhi
The emergence of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Gujarati, English, and Hindi, 1869-1948) and Tagore, influencing Indian life and literature, were quite often complementary to one another. Gandhi spoke the language of the common man, and was for the outcasts. His weapon was the weapon of truth and non-violence. He was for traditional values and against industrializations. He very soon turned himself into a medieval saint and a social reformer. Tagore called him Mahatma (saint). Gandhi became the theme of both poetry and fiction of cultural nationalism. He became an apostle of peace and idealism. Poets like Vallathol (Malayalam), Satyendranath Datta (Bengali), Kazi Nazrul Islam (Bengali) and Akbar Allahabadi (Urdu) accepted Gandhi as a challenge to western civilization, and as an assertion of the dignity of Asian values. Gandhian heroes swamped the fictional world of that time. Raja Rao (English), Tara Shankar Bandyopadhyay (Bengali), Premchand (Hindi), V.S. Khandekar (Marathi), Sarat Chandra Chatterjee (Bengali), Lakshmi Narayan (Telugu) all created Gandhian protagonists as rural reformers or social workers with moral and religious commitments. It was not the writers, but the people, who created the Gandhi myth, and the writers, in their turn, used it effectively to mark a period of great awakening.
Sarat Chandra Chatterjee (1876-1938) was one of the most popular Bengali novelists, whose popularity continues unabated even today, not only among Bengali readers, but also among people in other parts of India, by means of the numerous translations of his books, which are available in various Indian languages. His pet theme was the man-woman relationship, and he was well known for his portrayal of women, their sufferings and their often unspoken love. He was both a Gandhian and a socialist.
Premchand (1880-1936) wrote novels in Hindi. He was a true son of the soil, deeply attached to the Indian earth. He was the finest literary exponent of the Indian peasantry in Indian literature. As a true Gandhian, he believed in the idealistic theory of ‘a change of heart’ in the exploiters. But, in his magnum opus, Godan (1936), he becomes a realist and records the suffering and struggle of the Indian rural poor.
Progressive Literature
The advent of Marxism on the Indian literary scene in the thirties is a phenomenon which India shared with many other countries. Both Gandhi and Marx were driven by opposition to imperialism and concern for the dispossessed sections of society. The Progressive Writers Association was originally established in 1936 by some expatriate writers in London, like Mulk Raj Anand (English). However, soon it became a great pan-Indian movement that brought together Gandhian and Marxist insights into society. The movement was especially conspicuous in Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam, but its impact was felt all over India. It compelled every writer to reexamine his/her relationship with social reality. In Hindi, Chhayavad was challenged by a progressive school that came to be known as Pragativad (progressivism). Nagarjun was undisputedly the most powerful and noted Hindi poet of the progressive group. The Bengali poets, Samar Sen and Subhas Mukhopadhyay, added a new socio-political outlook to their poetry. Fakir Mohan Senapati (Oriya, 1893-1918) was the first Indian novelist of social realism. Rootedness to the soil, compassion for the wretched, and sincerity of expression are the qualities of the novels of Senapati. Manik Bandyopadhyay was the most well-known Marxist Bengali novelist. Malayalam fiction writers like Vaikkom Muhammed Basheer, S.K. Pottekkat and Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, made history by writing progressive fiction of high literary value. They covered fresh ground exploring the life of ordinary men and the human relations that economic and social inequalities fostered. Shivaram Karanath, the most versatile fiction writer in Kannada, never forgot his early Gandhian lessons. Sri Sri (Telugu) was a Marxist, but showed interest in modernism at a later stage in his life. Abdul Malik, in Assamese, writes with an ideological bias. The critical norms of progressive literature were established by the pioneer of this phase in Punjabi by Sant Singh Sekhon. The progressive writers’ movement attracted the attention of eminent poets of Urdu, like Josh Malihabadi and Faiz Ahmad Faiz. Both imbued with the Marxist spirit, infused in the age-old love symbolism a political meaning.
Search for Modernity
A great work of art, in the Indian context, is the expression of both the traditional and the actual. As a result, the concept of modernism grew in the Indian context along different lines. The urge was to create something new. Even the imitations of western modernist came as a challenge to understand their own realities. Writers during this time presented their manifestos, explaining their ideas of modernity. A new language was found to articulate their own historical position. Jibanananda Das (1899-1954) was the most important Bengali poet after Tagore who had a total sense of poetry. He was an imagist and used language not just to communicate, but to grasp reality. Bibhuti Bhushan Bandyopadhyay (1899-1950) the Bengali fiction writer, whose novel Pather Panchali (The Saga of the Road) was filmed by Satyajit Ray, and which received international acclaim, presents the unsophisticated and warmhearted village life that is passing away. In his quest for identification with man’s everyday relation with nature, he proved himself to be no less modern. Tara Shankar Bandyopadhyay (Bengali 1898-1971) depicts in his novels the pulsating life of a whole generation staying in a village or a city, where society itself becomes the hero. In depicting regional life, the social change and human behaviour, he achieves utmost success. Uma Shankar Joshi (Gujarati) initiated new experimental poetry and spoke of the shattered self in the modern day world. Amrita Pritam (Punjabi) creates an intensely personal poetry of an unearthly glory, without losing contact with the earth. B.S. Mardhekar (Marathi, 1909-1956) reflects in his poetry contemporary reality with the help of images, indicating the limitations of man and the inevitable despair arising from them. Gopal Krishna Adiga (1918-92), the famous modern Kannada poet, developed his own personal idiom, and became mystical. He also displays the agony of his time. Practically all the writers reflect the despair of man, arising out of his sense of helplessness in society and in the larger sphere of history. The limitation of the West, the degeneration of canons and the disillusionment of the middle-class psyche, are some of the characteristics of Indian modernity. However, the tradition of humanism is also very much alive and hope for a better future is not discarded. In western terminology, modernism is a breaking away from established rules, traditions and conventions, but in India, it is a search for alternatives to existing literary models. But one cannot identify one single reference point of modernity and, therefore, one may conclude that Indian modernity is like a mosaic.
The Indian Literary Scene After Independence
After independence, in the fifties, the disillusionment became more vivid because of the pressure of the disintegration of society and a broken relationship with India’s past heritage. In 1946, India witnessed the worst bloodbath in the memory of the sub-continent, just before it became Independent, after the partition of the country. India’s nationalism at that juncture was a nationalism of mourning. At that time, a majority of new writers portrayed a dreadful artificial world, based on the formulas of western modernism. There were experimentalists who showed concern for the inner reality – intellectualism entered the realm of modernity. In a culture like India’s, the past does not pass off. It keeps on providing paradigms for the present, but the rhythm broke down because of modernistic experimentations.
Most Indian poets looked outside, and accepted T.S. Eliot, Malarme, yeats or Baudelaire as their masters, and in the process, rejected Tagore, Bharati, Kumaran Asan, Sri Aurobindo and Gandhi. But then, these poets of the fifties, and even the sixties of ‘dark modernism’, developed an identity crisis. This specific identity crisis, the conflict between traditional Indianness and western modernity, is discernable in the writings of the major language areas in India during those days. Those who adhered to western modernity separated themselves from the common masses and their reality. But the concept of experimentation (Prayog) sometimes developed independent of western influence, as a quest for new values and a searching examination of the basic sanctions or sources of value. S.H. Vatsyayan Ajneya (Hindi), Navakanta Barua (Assamese), B.S. Mardhekar (Marathi), Harbhajan Singh (Punjabi), Sharatchandra Muktibodh (Marathi) and V.K. Gokak (Kannada) emerged with a distinct voice and vision, enriching the new movement.
Besides, the literature of social realism, having its roots in the soil, became a dominant trend in contemporary literature. It was a continuation of the progressive literature of the thirties and forties, but definitely more militant in its approach. G.M. Muktibodh (Hindi), Bishnu Dey (Bengali) or the Telugu naked (Digambar) poets revealed the poet’s solitary struggle in opposition to the mounting crisis of uprooted identity. They wrote political poetry on the theme of agony and struggle. It was a poetry of commitment. Literature now moved to the downtrodden and the exploited. The Kannada Bandaya (the rebels) were concerned with forms of violence in a class society. People like Dhumil (Hindi) showed a great range of social realism. O.N.V. Kurup (Malayalam) added to his lyricism the sharpness of anger towards social injustice. Then came the Naxalite movement of the seventies, and with it post-modernism entered the Indian literary scene. In the Indian context, post-modernism arrived as a reaction to media-operated and market-guided reality – a reaction to the modernism of the sixties of the existential anguish, of the crisis of identity, and of the frustration of the idealist, but it carried with it the trend of progressive literature of protest and struggle.
Dalit Literature
One of the most significant features of the post-modernist era was the emergence of writings of the outcasts, as a major literary force. The word Dalit means the downtrodden. The literature which is concerned with the socially underprivileged, and which asserts the socio-political stature of the underdogs, is known by this name. The Dalit movement was started in literature by Marathi, Gujarati and Kannada writes under the leadership of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. It came into the limelight because of progressive literature moving nearer to the downtrodden. It is a literature of militant protest against upper caste literature upholding Brahmanical values. Marathi poets, Namdev Dhasal or Narayan Surve, or novelists like Daya Pawar, or Laxman Gaikwad, reflect in their writings the anguish of a community, and demand the shaping of a just and realistic future for the underprivileged and the outcast in society. Mahadev Devanur (Kannada) and Joseph Macwan (Gujarati), in their novels, deal with the experience of violence, protest and exploitation. It challenges the tone and context of existing literary canons and decentralises the whole process of a literary movement. It creates an alternative aesthetics and extends the linguistic and generic possibilities of literature. Dalit literature introduces a new world of experience in literature, widens the range of expression, and exploits the potentiality of the language of the outcasts and underprivileged Dalits.
Contemporary Literature
In the uttara Adhunika (post-modern) era the effort is to be natural, to be Indian, to be near to the common man, to be socially conscious. The third generation of Malayalam writers like N. Prabhakaran, and P. Surendran prefer the term anti-modernism to post-modernism and are content simply to narrate human tales without any explicit social message or philosophical pretensions. Vijayadan Detha (Rajasthani, under the umbrella language Hindi) and Surendra Prakash (Urdu) are now writing stories without any ideological prejudices. The modernist idea that anything simple should not be accepted is now questioned. It is established now that simple texts may present complex extra-textual structures. Even cultural references simply stated in poetry can have different semantic values.
In the contemporary Indian novels by Jayamohan (Tamil), Debes Ray (Bengali) and Shivprasad Singh (Hindi), dealing with various neglected regions, and the spoken dialect of that area, a composite picture of a total India, pulsating with new experience and struggling to hold on to the old values, and in the process sometimes discarding them, is also easily discernible. In this period of Uttara Adhunikta (post-modernism), these novels dramatise the shift of the dominant from problems of knowing to problems of modes of being. It gives a glimpse of the actual India of the villages, and also makes it amply clear that this country belongs to the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. Its culture is a composite culture. These regional novelists have forcefully demolished the myths created by the western Indologists that Indianness is just fatalism, or that Indianness is to be identified with harmony and order, and Indian vision cannot perceive its own reality.
The central tension experienced by the vast majority of contemporary Indian novelists is that of transition from the rural and traditional to an urban and post-modern situation, expressed either through a romantic nostalgia for the village left behind, or through fear and hatred of the cruel impersonal city, with all its sex, horror, murder and cruelty. Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya (Assamese), Sunil Gangopadhyay (Bengali), Pannalal patel (Gujarati), Mannu Bhandari (Hindi), Nayantara Sahgal (English), V. Bedekar (Marathi), Samaresh Basu (Bengali) and others, with their rural-urban sensitivity, have portrayed the Indian experience in its totality. Some fiction writers, with the help of symbols, images and other poetic means, magnify a particular moment in life. Nirmal Verma (Hindi), Moni Manikyam (Telugu) and many others have made their presence felt in this area. Emancipatory women’s writing has emerged strongly in all Indian languages, seeking to subvert the man-dominated social order, forging revisionary myths and counter-metaphors by women writers like Kamala Das (Malayalam, English), Krishna Sobti (Hindi), Ashapurna Devi (Bengali), Rajam Krishnan (Tamil) and others.
The present-day crisis in India is the conflict between expediency and universality, and as a result, a large number of writers are in the process of identifying a pattern of problem-solving within the traditional system, vigorous enough to generate and sustain an indigenous process of modernization, which does not need readymade external solutions, and is in accord with indigenous needs and attitudes. The new crop of writers are concerned with truth as they see it in life around them. Even for the Indian English writers, English is no more a colonial language. Amitabh Ghosh, Shashi Tharur, Vikram Seth, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Arundhati Roy and others are using it without showing a lack of commitment to Indianness. Those writers who are aware of their inheritance, complexity and uniqueness, express in their work, without any conscious effort, both tradition and the actual.
One may conclude that no single Indian literature is complete in itself, and hence no study of it, within a single language context, can do justice to it, or even to its writers, who grow in a common cultural ambience. What is noteworthy is that Indian literature is written in many languages, but there is a vital, living relationship among them, because of polyglot fluidity, inter-language translations, shared themes, forms, concerns, direction and movements. All these keep the ideals of Indian literature dynamically alive even today.
Media of India consist of several different types of communications media: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based Web sites. The Indian media was initiated since the late 18th century with print media started in 1780, radio broadcasting initiated in 1927, and the screening of Auguste and Louis Lumière moving pictures in Bombay initiated during the July of 1895 —is among the oldest and largest media of the world. Indian media—private media in particular—has been "Free and Independent" throughout most of its history. The period of emergency (1975–1977), declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was the brief period when India's media was faced with potential government retribution.
The country consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007—making it the second largest market in the world for newspapers. By 2009, India had a total of 81,000,000 registered Internet users—comprising 7.0% of the country's population, and 7,570,000 people in India also had access to broadband Internet as of 2010— making it the 11th largest country in the world in terms of broadband Internet users. As of 2009, India is among the 4th largest television broadcast stations in the world with nearly 1,400 stations.
The organization Reporters Without Borders compiles and publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon the organization's assessment of their press freedom records. In 2010 India was ranked 122nd of 178th countries, which was a setback from the preceding year.
The first major newspaper in India—The Bengal Gazette—was started in 1780 under the British Raj. Other newspapers such as The India Gazette, The Calcutta Gazette, The Madras Courier (1785), The Bombay Herald (1789) etc. soon followed. These newspapers carried news of the areas under the British rule. The Times of India was founded in 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce by Bennett, Coleman and Company, a colonial enterprise now owned by an Indian conglomerate. The Times Group publishes The Economic Times (launched in 1961), Navbharat Times (Hindi language), and the Maharashtra Times (Marathi language).
In the 1950s 214 daily newspapers were published in the country. Out of these, 44 were English language dailies while the rest were published in various regional languages. This number rose to 2,856 dailies in 1990 with 209 English dailies. The total number of newspapers published in the country reached 35,595 newspapers by 1993 (3,805 dailies).
The main regional newspapers of India include the Malayalam language Malayala Manorama (published from: Kerala, daily circulation: 673,000)and "Madhyamam Daily", (published from: Kerala,with international editions from Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Dammam and Kuwait, the Hindi-language Dainik Jagran (published from: Uttar Pradesh, daily circulation in 2006: 580,000), and the Anandabazar Patrika (published from: Kolkata, daily circulation in 2006: 435,000). The Times of India Group, the Indian Express Group, the Hindustan Times Group, and the Anandabazar Patrika Group are the main print media houses of the country.[10]
Newspaper sale in the country increased by 11.22% in 2007. By 2007, 62 of the world's best selling newspaper dailies were published in China, Japan, and India. India consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007—making it the second largest market in the world for newspapers.
Indian newspapers with the largest circulation
History
James Augustus Hickey is considered as the "father of Indian press" as he started the first Indian newspaper from Calcutta, the Calcutta General Advertise or the Bengal Gazette in January, 1780. In 1789, the first newspaper from Bombay, the Bombay Herald appeared, followed by the Bombay Courier next year (this newspaper was later amalgamated with the Times of India in 1861).
The first newspaper in an Indian language was the Samachar Darpan in Bengali. The first issue of this daily was published from the Serampore Mission Press on May 23, 1818. In the same year, Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya started publishing another newspaper in Bengali, the Bengal Gazetti. On July 1, 1822 the first Gujarati newspaper the Bombay Samachar was published from Bombay, which is still existant. The first Hindi newspaper, the Oodunt Marthand began in 1826. Since then, the prominent Indian languages in which papers have grown over the years are Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Oriya, Assamese, Urdu and Bengali.
The Indian language papers have taken over the English press as per the latest NRS survey of newspapers. The main reasons being the marketing strategy followed by the regional papers, beginning with Eenadu, a telugu daily started by Ramoji Rao who fradulently pumped in soo much money into his media empire which he got for supporting the 2 CM's of Andhra ,ntr & chandrababu. The second reason being the growing literacy rate. Increase in the literacy rate has direct positive effect on the rise of circulation of the regional papers. The people are first educated in their mother tongue as per their state in which they live for e.g. students in Maharashtra are compulsory taught Marathi language and hence they are educated in their state language and the first thing a literate person does is read papers and gain knowledge and hence higher the literacy rate in a state the sales of the dominating regional paper in that state rises.
The next reason being localisation of news. Indian regional papers have several editions for a particular State for complete localisation of news for the reader to connect with the paper. Malayala Manorama has about 10 editions in Kerala itself and five outside Kerala and two abroad (Bahrain and Dubai). Thus regional papers aim at providing localised news for their readers. Even Advertisers saw the huge potential of the regional paper market, partly due to their own research and more due to the efforts of the regional papers to make the advertisers aware of the huge market.
Dainik Jagaran and Dainik Bhaskar are the top selling Hindi newspapers in India. Malayala Manorama is the most widely read regional language newspapers in India. Times of India and Hindustan Times are India's largest English-language newspapers.
Top selling Indian newspapers in English
· Times of India (TOI)
One of the best selling English-language newspapers in India. Times of India owned by The Times Group. Founded in 1838 Times Group also owns The Economic Times, Navbharat Times, Maharashtra Times, Mumbai Mirror, Radio Mirchi, Planet M, Zoom, Times Now, Femina, Filmfare, Times Jobs, SimplyMarry, and Magic Bricks.
· Hindu
One of the most widely circulated Indian newspapers. The newspaper was founded in 1878, and published by the Hindu Group. The group also publishes The Hindu Business Line (Business Daily), Sportstar (Weekly Sports magazine), Frontline (Fortnightly magazine), Survey of Indian Industry, Survey of Indian Agriculture, and Survey of the Environment.
· Hindustan Times (HT)
Leading Indian newspaper published in English-language. The newspaper owned by HT Media Ltd., and was founed in 1924. The media group also owns Mint (Business daily), Hindustan (Hindi-language Daily), Kadambani (monthly literary magazine), and Nandan (Monthly children's magazine).
· Indian Express
Owned by the Indian Express Group The Indian Express Founded in 1931. Indian Express Group also owns other newspapers like Express India, Financial Express, Screen India, Express India, Loksatta, Kashmir Live, Biz Publication.
· Pioneer
English language daily newspaper in India published in Delhi, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Dehradun, Kochi, Bhopal and Chandigarh.
· News Today
English language evening daily newspaper published in Chennai, India. The newspaper was founded in 1982.
· Deccan Herald
Leading English newspaper based in Karnataka. Deccan Herald printed in Bangalore, Hubli, Mysore, Gulbarga, Mangalore.
· Telegraph
Popular newspaper based in Kolkata, India. The newspaper owned by the ABP Pvt. Limited, and was founded in 1982.
· Daily News and Analysis (DNA)
English-language broadsheet newspaper published in Mumbai, India. The newspaper owned by the Diligent Media Corporation.
· Deccan Chronicle
South India's most widely read newspaper. The newspaper owned by the Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd., and was established in 1938.
· Asian Age
India's global newspaper published from Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and London.
· Economic Time
Largest business & financial newspaper in India. The newspaper published by Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd. The supplements of the newspaper are Brand Equity, Corporate Dossier, ET Travel, ZigWheels, and ET Realty.
Role of Press in India's Struggle for Freedom
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide spectrum of political organizations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first, East India Company, then British colonial authority in parts of South Asia. The term incorporates various national and regional campaigns, agitations and efforts of both nonviolent and militant philosophy.
At the time of the first war of independence, any number of papers were in operation in the country. Many of these like Bangadoot of Ram Mohan Roy, Rastiguftar of Dadabhai Naoroji and Gyaneneshun advocated social reforms and thus helped arouse national awakening.
It was in 1857 itself that Payam-e-Azadi started publication in Hindi and Urdu, calling upon the people to fight against the British. The paper was soon confiscated and anyone found with a copy of the paper was presecuted for sedition. Again, the first hindi daily, Samachar Sudhavarashan, and two newspapers in Urdu and Persian respectively, Doorbeen and Sultan-ul-Akbar, faced trial in 1857 for having published a 'Firman' by Bahadur Shah Zafar, urging the people to drive the British out of India. This was followed by the notroius Gagging Act of Lord Canning, under which restrictions were imposed on the newspapers and periodicals.
Notable Role
In the struggle against the British, some newspapers played a very notable role. This included the Hindi Patriot! Established in 1853, by the author and playwright, Grish Chandra Ghosh, it became popular under the editorship of Harish Chandra Mukherjee. In 1861, the paper published a play, "Neel Darpan" and launched a movement against the British, urging the people to stop cultivating the crop for the white traders. This resulted in the formation of a Neel Commission. Later, the paper was taken over by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. The paper strongly opposed the Government's excesses and demanded that Indians be appointed to top government posts. The Indian Mirror was the other contemporary of this paper which was very popular among the reading public.
Yet another weekly, Amrita Bazar Patrika which was being published from Jessore, was critical of the government, with the result that its proprietors faced trial and conviction. In 1871, the Patrika moved to Calcutta and another Act was passed to supress it and other native journals.
Marathi Press
Mahadev Govind Rande, a leading leader of Maharashtra, used to write in Gyan Prakash as well as in Indu Prakash. Both these journals helped awaken the conscience of the downtrodden masses. Another Marathi weekly, Kesari was started by Tilak from January 1, 1881. He aIongwith Agarkar and Chiplunkar started another weekly journal, Mratha in English. The Editor of the 'Daccan Star' Nam Joshi also joined them and his paper was incorporated with Maratha. Tilak and Agarkar were convicted for writings against the British and the Diwan of Kolhapur. Tilak's Kesari became one of the leading media to propagate the message of freedom movement. It also made the anti-partition movement of Bengal a national issue. In 1908, Tilak opposed the Sedition ordinace. He was later exiled from the country for six years. Hindi edition of Kesari was started from Nagpur and Banaras.
Press and the First Session of Congress
The Editors commanded a very high reputation at the time of the birth of the Indian National Congress. One could measure the extent of this respect from the fact that those who occupied the frontline seats in the first ever Congress session held in Bombay in December 1885 included some of the editors of Indian newspapers. The firstever resolution at this Session was proposed by the editor of The Hindu, G. Subramanya Iyer. In this resolution, it was demanded that the government should appoint a committee to enquire into the functioning of Indian administration. The second resolution was also moved by a journalist from Poona, Chiplunkar in which the Congress was urged to demand for the abolition of India Council which ruled the country from Britain. The third resolution was supported by Dadabhai Naoroji who was a noted journalist of his time. The fourth resolution was proposed by Dadabhai Naoroji.
There were many Congress Presidents who had either been the editors or had started the publication of one or the other newspapers. In this context, particular mention may be made of Ferozeshah Mehta who had started the Bombay Chronide and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya who edited daily, Hindustan. He also helped the publication of Leader from Allahabad. Moti Lal Nehru was the first Chairman of the Board of Directors of the leader. Lala Lajpat Rai inspired the publication of three journals, the Punjabi, Bandematram and the People from Lahore. During his stay in South Africa, Gandhiji had brought out Indian Opinion and after settling in India, he started the publication of Young India; Navjeevan, Harijan, Harijan Sevak and Harijan Bandhu. Subash Chandra Bose and C.R. Das were not journalists but they acquired the papers like Forward and Advance which later attained national status. Jawaharlal Nehru founded the National Herald.
Revolutionary Movement and the Press
So far as the revolutionary movement is concerned, it did not begin with guns and bombs but it started with the publication of newspapers. The first to be mentioned in this context is Yugantar publication of which was started by Barindra Kumar Ghosh who edited it also.
When the Ghadar party was organised in Amenca, Lala Hardayal started publication of the journal 'Ghadar'. Within one year, millions of copies of this journal were published in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi and English and sent to India and to all parts of the world· where Indians were residing. In the beginning the copies of the journal were concealed in parcels of foreign cloth sent to Delhi. It was also planned to smuggle the printing press into India for this purpose. But then the war broke out and it became almost impossible to import printing machinery from abroad. Lala Hardayal was arrested in America and deported to India. One of his followers Pandit Ramchandra started publishing Hindustan Ghadar in English. With the U.S. joining the war, the Ghadar party workers were arrested by the American Government. When the trail was on, one of the rivals of Pandit Ramchandra managed to obtain a gun and shoot him dead in the jail itself. The death of Ram chandra led to the closure of this paper.
In 1905 Shyamji Krishna Verma started publication of a journal Indian Sociologist from London. It used to publish reports of political activities taking place at the India House in London. In 1909 two printers of this journal were convicted. Shyamji Krishna Verma left England for Paris from where he started the publication of the journal. Later on, he had to leave for Geneva. He countinued to bring out the journal from there for two or three years more. In Paris, Lala Hardayal, in collaboration with Madam Cama and Sardar Singhraoji Rana brought out Vandematram and Talwar.
After Yugantar, it was Vandematram that played a significant role in the freedom struggle. This journal was established by Subodha Chandra Malik, C.R. Das and Bipin Chandra Pal on August 6, 1906. Its editor, Aurobindo Ghosh, the editor of Sandhya, B. Upadhyay and editor of Yugantar B. N. Dutt had to a face a trial for espousing the cause of freedom.
So far as the Hindi papers were concerned, they looked to government for support for some time. Bhartendu Harish Chandra was the first to start a journal Kavi Vachan Sudha in 1868. Its policy was to give vent to the miseries of the people of India. When the Prince of Wales visited India, a poem was published in his honour. The British authorities were given to understand that the poem had two meanings and that one word used in the peom could also mean that the Prince of Wales should get a shoe-beating.
The government aid to journals like Kavi Vachan Sudha was stopped for publishing what was objectionable from the government point of view. Bhartendu Harish Chandra resigned from his post of an honorary Magistrate. His two friends, Pratap Narain Mishra and Bal Krishna Bhatt started publication of two important political journals Pradeep from Allahabad, and Brahman from Kanpur. The Pradeep was ordered to be closed down in 1910 for espousing the cause of freedom.
The Bharat-Mitra was a famous Hindi journal of Calcutta which started its publication on May 17, 1878 as a fortnighly. It contributed a lot in propagating the cause of freedom movement. The journal exposed the British conspiracy to usurp Kashmir. Several other papers published from Calcutta which played an important role in freedom struggle included Ambika Prasad Vajpayee's Swantrtmtra, Ramanand Chatterjee's Modern Review' in English, Pravasi Patra' in Bengali and Vishal Bharat in Hindi.
One of the foremost Hindi journalist who has earned a name for his patriotism was Ganesh Shanker Vidyarthi. In 1913, he brought out weekly Pratap from Kanpur. He made the supreme sacrifice in 1931 in the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity. Krishna Dutt Paliwal brought out Sainik from Agra which became a staunch propagator of nationalism in Western U. P. The noted Congress leader, Swami Shradhanand, started the publication of Hindi journal Vir Arjun' and Urdu journal Tej. After the assassination of Swami Shradhanand, Vidyavachaspathi and Lala Deshbandhu Gupta continued the publication of these journals. They were themselves prominent Congress leaders.
In Lahore, Mahashaya Khushal Chand brought out Milap and Mahashaya Krishna started publishing urdu journals which helped a lot in promoting the national cause. In 1881, Sardar Dayal Singh Majitha on the advice of Surendra Nath Bannerjee brought out Tribune under the editorship of Sheetala Kant Chatterjee. Bipin Chandra Pal also edited this paper for sometime. Later in 1917, Kalinath Rai joined the paper as its editor.
There is not a single privince in India which did not produce a journal or newspaper to uphold the cause of freedom struggle. A. G. Horniman made the Bombay Chronicle' a powerful instrument to promote militant nationalism. He himself took part in the meetings where Satyagraha used to be planned. He published vivid accounts of Jallianwala Bagh carnage for which one correspondent of his paper, Goverdhan Das, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by a military court. Horniman too was arrested and deported to London even though he was ill at that time. Amritlal Shet brought out the Gujarati journal Janmabhumi which was an organ of the people of the princely states of Kathiawad, but it became a mouthpiece of national struggle. Similarly another Gujarati journal Saanjvartman played a prominent role under the editorship of Sanwal Das Gandhi, who played a very significant role in the Quit India Movement in 1942. It was soon after independent formed a parallel Government in Junagarh and forced the Nawab of Junagarh to leave the country. The three editors of the Sindhi journal Hindi Jairam Das Daulatram, Dr. choithram Gidwani and Hiranand karamchand, were arrested, their press closed and the property of the paper confiscated.
In Bihar the tradition of national newspapers was carried forward by Sachidanand Sinha, who had started the publication of Searchlight under the editorship of Murtimanohar Sinha. Dev Brat Shastri started publication of 'Nav Shakti and Rashtra Vani'. The weekly yogi and the Hunkar' also contributed very much to the general awakening.
Press under British Rule
In 1550 first press was established by Portuguese. In 1780 James Augustus Hicky started the first newspaper weekly in India called Bengal Gazette .This paper attacked both Warren Hastings and Chief Justice E Impey.In 1785 Madras Courier Weekly was started. In 1790 Bombay Courier and in 1791 Bombay Gazette merged with Bombay Herald in 1792.In 1818 Digdarshan was started as the first Bengali weekly by Marshman from Srirampore.On December 4th 1821 Raja Ram Mohan Roy started Samvad Kaumudi.In 1822 he published a weekly Mirat-ul-Akbar in Persian language. In 1837 Syed-ul-Akbhar a weekly in Urdu was published. In 1838 Dilli Akbhar was published. In 1840 Hindu Patriot was started by Harishchandra Mukherjee. In 1851 Gujarati fortnightly Rust Goftar was started by Dadabhai Naroji.In 1862 Indian Mirror was started .Initially the editor was Devendranath Tagore followed by Keshavchandra Sen and Narendranath Sen.On 28th September 1861 Bombay Times, Bombay Standard, Bombay Courier and The Telegraph merged together to form Times of India. Its editor was Robert Knight. It was established by Carey, Ward and marshman in 1818.Initially it was monthly but latter changed to weekly. In 1875 Statesman was started by Robert Knight. In 1890 Statesman and Friend of India merged to become Statesman. In 1865 Pioneer was started from Allahabad.On 20th September 1878, Hindu was started from Madras by G.Subramanium Aiyar as a weekly.later it was made triweekly in Oct 1883 when Kusturiangar became its editor. In 1889 it was made a daily.On 2nd January 1881 Kesari and Mahratta was started by Lokmanya Tilak and Kelkar.
Censor Act 1799 by Lord Wellesley
Every newspaper should print the names of printer, editor and proprietor. Before printing any material it should be submitted to the secretary of Censorship. This Act was abolished by Hastings.
Licensing regulation Act 1823 by John Adam
Every publisher should get a license from the government, defaulters would be fined Rs 400 and the press would be ceased by the government. Government has right to cancel the license. Charles Metcalf abolished the Act.
Vernacular Press Act IX 1878
Vernacular press criticized British rule. Therefore British Govt came down heavily on vernacular press. Magistrates were authorised to ask any publisher of newspaper to give assurance of not publishing anything threatening peace and security. Fixed amount to be paid for security guarantee. The magistrate’s decision was final in any dispute. This law was not applicable to English Press. It was repealed by Lord Ripon in 1882.
Newspaper Act 1908
Magistrate had the power to confiscate the assets of the press. Against this confiscation one can appeal to High Court in 15 days. Under this Act as many as 7 presses were forfeited.
Press Regulating Act 1942
Registration of journalists was made mandatory. Limitations were imposed on the messages regarding civil disturbances. Prohibition of news was imposed regarding acts of sabotage. Limitations on headlines and space given to news on disturbances. Limitations on headlines and space given to news on disturbances.Govt had the authority on arbitrary censorship.
Law of sedition
Sedition law in India is a legacy of the colonial era. While the United Kingdom abolished sedition laws in 2010, sedition became a big issue in India the same year as noted writer Arundhati Roy, amongst others, were sought to be charged with sedition for advocating independence for the disputed Kashmir region. This is by no means the only instance of sedition laws being used in contemporary India. Many human rights activists have found themselves charged with sedition.
Binayak Sen MBBS, MD; is an Indian pediatrician, public health specialist and activist was found guilty of sedition. He is the national Vice-President of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).On 24 December 2010, the Additional Sessions and District Court Judge B.P Varma Raipur found Binayak Sen, Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha, guilty of sedition for helping the Maoists in their fight against the state.They were sentenced to life imprisonment.However he got bail in Supreme court on 16 April 2011
Social Reform movement
A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary movements.
Reformists' ideas are often grounded in liberalism, although they may be rooted in socialist (specifically, Social democratic) or religious concepts. Some rely on personal transformation; others rely on small collectives, such as Mahatma Gandhi's spinning wheel and the self sustaining village economy, as a mode of social change. Reactionary movements, which can arise against any of these, attempt to put things back the way they were before whatever successes of the new movement(s), or prevent any such successes in the first place.
Social movements come and go, represent all manner of political beliefs, and aim to achieve their political objectives by influencing a particular target group’s opinion. Some groups reach out directly to just a few key decision makers or constituencies, while others act more indirectly by broadcasting their message to as wide an audience as possible.
Writing in 1993, William Gamson and Gadi Wolfsfeld suggested that social movements rely on the media for three main services,
Writing in 1993, William Gamson and Gadi Wolfsfeld suggested that social movements rely on the media for three main services,
(1) mobilisation of political support,
(2) legitimisation (or validation) in the mainstreams discourse,
(3) to broaden the scope of conflicts.
Consequently, the quality and nature of the media coverage that social movements obtain strongly influences how they are perceived in the public eye – to the extent that good or bad coverage can help to make or break a social movement.
Social movements that are long lived and effectively institutionalised within society, tend not to challenge the status quo directly, and so consequently are less dependent on media coverage for their survival.
Indian Press and Social Reform Movements
However, media coverage may be crucial for other, less well known social movements whose often transitional and adversarial nature tends to weaken their ability to secure public legitimacy. Their outsider status – that is, their marginalisation from central political decision-making processes – along with their often resource-poor nature, means that traditional avenues of publicity are not easily accessible which forces them to rely on alternative methods to obtain media access. Traditionally, this involves some form of public spectacle – like a protest – to attract media attention.
Typical protest actions include sit-ins, pickets, street theatre, strikes, rallies, mass demonstrations and their more recent relative, reclaim the street parties. These activities have become accepted as mechanisms by which social problems are communicated in the public sphere, alongside public opinion polls and elections and they act as vital means by which citizens can signal their discontent. Consequently, the way that such protest activities are reported in the media is fundamental to the effectiveness of the feedback loop between the public and their politicians.
Unlike other ‘legitimate’ social groups, like the police and mainstream politicians, most social movements are not the focus of regular news beats. This means that unless social movements stage big public events, they struggle to get their message heard, as “the vast majority of demonstrations are ignored by the mainstream media”– particularly small demonstrations. [2] Governments are often openly critical of social movements that undermine their authority, but perhaps what is more damaging is the subtle nature of the mass media’s marginalisation of the activities of many social movements. Linda Kensicki highlighted some of these consequences:
“There are repeated cases of slanting, trivialisation, and outright omission of those who deviate from the norms of an elite media and form a political movement to combat injustice. Negative media frames have been discovered in the antinuclear movement, the women’s movement (Barker-Plummer 1995), and the gay and lesbian movement, and the National Environmental Policy Act faced a media blackout.” [3]
Joseph Chan and Chin-Chuan Lee first described the “protest paradigm” in 1984 to illustrate how the mass media tended to focus on limited features of social protests to portray protestors as the ‘other’. [4] Characteristics of this reporting paradigm, which work to separate protestors (them) from non-protesting audiences (us, or at least some of us) include a reliance on official sources to frame the event, a focus on police confrontation, and an analysis of the protestors activities (and appearances) rather than their objectives. This somewhat internalised selection process serves to filter which protests are reported, and which are ignored (for more on this, see my recent article, Conform or Reform? Social Movements and the Mass Media). Reporting within this paradigm typically gives the impression that protests “‘erupt out of nowhere’ and are ‘irrational’ manifestations of self-interest by sectional interest groups operating without concern for, and at the expense of, the ‘organic whole’ – the national interest.” [5]
Understanding the relationship between social movements and the media’s coverage of their actions is crucial, especially if this increasingly important political resource is to be utilised effectively for progressive social change. This article aims to analyse this pivotal relationship from two directions. Firstly, it will examine incidents where the media facilitates social change via protest actions within democratic countries, which will be followed by an examination of the media’s role in catalysing major social change, that is, revolutions in authoritarian nations. Secondly, the article will chart the ways in which the media (in democratic countries) can act to undermine social movements in the public sphere. Finally, the article will attempt to understand why social movement protest coverage is so variable and conclude by making recommendations for how progressive organisations may best address their relationships with the media.
Social reformers of India
Mahatma Gandhi: (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) (Father of the Nation, Rashtrapita, ) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total nonviolence—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to achieve Swaraj or the independence of India from foreign domination.
Swami Vivekanand: (January 12, 1863–July 4, 1902) He was the founder of Ramakrishna Mission. Vivekananda is considered to be a major force in the revival of Hinduism in modern India. He is considered a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and America. He introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions at Chicago in 1893.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy: (August 14, 1774 – September 27, 1833) was a founder of the Brahma Sabha in 1828 which engendered the Brahmo Samaj, an influential Indian socio-religious reform movement. He is best known for his efforts to abolish the practice of sati, the Hindu funeral practice in which the widow was compelled to sacrifice herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. It was he who first introduced the word "Hinduism" into the English language in 1816. For his diverse contributions to society, Raja Ram Mohan Roy is regarded as one of the most important figures in the Indian Renaissance. Ram Mohun Roy's impact on modern Indian history was a revival of the pure and ethical principles of the Vedanta school of philosophy as found in the Upanishads.
Vinoba Bhave: (September 11, 1895 - November 15 1982) was an Indian advocate of Nonviolence and human rights. He is considered as the spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi. Vinoba Bhave was a scholar, thinker, writer who produced numerous books, translator who made Sanskrit texts accessible to common man, orator, linguist who had excellent command of several languages (Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, English, Sanskrit), and a social reformer. He wrote brief introductions to, and criticisms of, several religious and philosophical works like the Bhagavad Gita,works of Adi Shankaracharya, the Bible and Quran. His criticism of Dnyaneshwar's poetry as also the output by other Marathi saints is quite brilliant and a testimony to the breadth of his intellect. A university named after him Vinoba Bhave University is still there in the state of Jharkhand spreading knowledge even after his death.
Baba Amte: (December 26, 1914 – February 9, 2008) was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of poor people suffering from leprosy. He spent some time at Sevagram ashram of Mahatma Gandhi, and became a follower of Gandhism for the rest of his life. He believed in Gandhi's concept of a self-sufficient village industry that empowers seemingly helpless people, and successfully brought his ideas into practice at Anandwan. He practiced various aspects of Gandhism, including yarn spinning using a charkha and wearing khadi. Amte founded three ashrams for treatment and rehabilitation of leprosy patients, disabled people, and people from marginalized sections of the society in Maharashtra, India.
B. R. Ambedkar: (14 April 1891 — 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, political leader, Buddhist activist, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist, historian, orator, prolific writer, economist, scholar, editor, revolutionary and the revivalist of Buddhism in India. He was also the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. Ambedkar spent his whole life fighting against social discrimination, the system of Chaturvarna — the Hindu categorization of human society into four varnas — and the Hindu caste system. He is also credited with having sparked the bloodless revolution with his most remarkable and innovative Buddhist movement. Ambedkar has been honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.
Annie Besant: (October 1 , 1847 – September 20, 1933) was a prominent Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule. In 1908 Annie Besant became President of the Theosophical Society and began to steer the society away from Buddhism and towards Hinduism. She also became involved in politics in India, joining the Indian National Congress. When war broke out in Europe in 1914 she helped launch the Home Rule League to campaign for democracy in India and dominion status within the Empire which culminated in her election as president of the India National Congress in late 1917. After the war she continued to campaign for Indian independence until her death in 1933.
A great contrast existed between eighteenth-century and twentieth-century India. On one side, India had a stagnating traditional culture and society at very low ebb, while on the other hand, India possessed a still traditional society in the throes and the creative excitement of modernising and of emerging as a new nation. The nineteenth century initiated this process of transformation in the religious, social, economic, political, and cultural spheres. The impact of the British Raj influenced administration, legislation, trade, network of communications, industrialisation and urbanisation in India, affecting not only society as a whole, but also the traditional patterns of life. British scholars, educators and missionaries also impacted the cultural field. The reformers consciously reacted to the new situation and advocated deliberate changes in social and religious attitudes and customs. The reformers had a great impact on nineteenth-century India, but there were also other factors effecting change.
The nineteenth-century reform movement became closely conjoined to a political movement, and consequently sought to influence political authority, administration, and legislation. This political movement eventually became an all-India nationalist movement. Whereas previously social reform was inextricably interwoven with religious motivation and improvement, in the nineteenth century, the relationship of the two fluctuated, and sometimes secular and rationalistic motives were the decisive ones. Among the most noteworthy reformers are Swami Narayana of Gujarat, initiator of a sect bearing his name and Mahatma Ramalingam of Tamil Nadu.
The British administration and European literature brought a constellation of fresh ideas which constituted a challenge to the new intellectuals. Rationalism as the basis for ethical thinking, the idea of human progress and evolution, the possibility of scientifically engineering social change were all unfamiliar to the traditional society. The Christian missionaries also had a strong influence. The nineteenth-century reformers, starting with Ram Mohan Roy, acknowledged their indebtedness even though certain aspects of missionary`s activity were opposed. Initially, India had already produced a small social group, the English-educated intelligentsia, closely associated with British administration. They quickly realised the faults in the social and religious characteristics of society and thus several ideas of reform first arose amongst them. At this stage, there was no concern for the general people, or any desire to transform the structure of society at large. Rather the focus was on improving and reshaping their lives according to the new standards.
Untouchability
Since untouchability is a course for humanity, a root cause for the backwardness of the Hindu Society and a serious problem of national integration; therefore, we suggest the following measures for the eradication of this evil.
1) Spread of Education:
Education is the best method for the untouchability eradication. Therefore, it should be spread among the untouchable castes. Moreover, and arrangement should be made by the government. For the spread of general as well as technical education among Harijan students, special inducements in the form of scholarships, free hostel accommodation books, stationery etc should be provided to untouchable students to attract more and more towards education. Education should be free and compulsory in this context.
2) Economic facilities:
The economic condition of the untouchable castes still continues to be miserable. Harijan upliftment would remain a pious hope as long as their economic position remains unchanged. Hence, they should be given vocational training in various crafts and technical skills and financially be assisted to start small cottage industries of their own economic backwardness of Harijans can only be removed with opportunities for gainful employment and improvement in social status, provision of land irrigation facilities; supply of bullock, agricultural implement; seeds and manures; development of rural cottage industries; development of communication co-operative societies etc will go a long way in improving their economic positions.
Thus, for the eradication of untouchability, all economic facilities should be provided to the people who belonging to untouchable castes.
3) Housing facilities:
Harijans, at present mostly like in the worst type of strums and segregated from the residential areas of the higher castes. Bad housing conditions not only affect their health but also affect their morality. Therefore the Harijan should be given ample housing facilities so that they develop their living conditions.
The Government while improving the housing conditions should provides new houses to the houseless Harijan. Besides, maximum financial assistance also provided to them for repairing of old and worst type of house.
4) Employment facilities:
For improvement of the standard of living of Harijans and other backward classes, Government should provide as much employment facilities as possible to them. Along with Government services, reservation of vacancies for Harijan should be made in all industrial enterprises and private sectors.
5) Emancipation for Dirty Occupation:
Harijans at present mostly engage in various dirty occupations. It is true that one engaged in some dirty and worst type of occupations, appear unclean to other. It also deteriorates his personality. Therefore, efforts should be made in all levels to emancipate them from dirty occupations as far as possible.
6) Abolition of Caste System:
Caste System is the root cause of the origin of untouchability. Therefore, the abolition of Caste System is very essential for the eradication of untouchability. Under Caste System, the untouchable are leading their lives just like animals it creates inequality among the members of higher and lower castes. Hence for the removal of untouchability, caste system should be abolished.
7) Encouragement to inter Caste Marriage:
It is a very effective means for the eradication on untouchabilty by inter caste marriages, not only two persons of different castes but their families too shall be united to destroy age old prejudices it should be the policy of Government to give all types of facilities to those who have married out of their own caste. Hence, for the removal of untouchability, inter caste marriages, especially between the higher castes and the untouchables castes should be encouraged by all possible means.
8) Propaganda against Untouchability:
For the eradication of untouchability, propaganda should be relentlessly directed by he Government and other social organisations against this evil through the mass media communications like radio, telephone, press, television, newspaper, platform and so on. All educational institutions also work in this direction. As a consequence the feeling of untouchability find no place in the minds of people and in automatically eradicated.
Women's Issues in India
INDIAN WOMEN'S ISSUES : INDIA has an elaborate laws to protect the rights of women, including the Prevention of Immoral Traffic, the Sati (widow burning) Act, and the Dowry Prevention Act. Women and children have figured prominently in the government's agenda of social reforms and initiatives.
However the Government is often unable to enforce these laws, especially in rural areas where traditions are deeply rooted. Dowry, Female bondage and forced prostitution are widespread in some parts of India.
Many obstacles to the realization of women's human rights in India, are social and cultural in nature, deeply rooted in the traditions of its communities.
Education
Though it is gradually rising, the female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate. Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out. According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female literacy rates. According to majority of the scholars, the major factor behind the improved social and economic status of women in Kerala is literacy.
Under Non-Formal Education programme (NFE), about 40% of the centres in states and 10% of the centres in UTs are exclusively reserved for females. As of 2000, about 0.3 million NFE centres were catering to about 7.42 million children, out of which about 0.12 million were exclusively for girls. In urban India, girls are nearly at par with the boys in terms of education. However, in rural India girls continue to be less educated than the boys.
According to a 1998 report by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier to female education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers and gender bias in curriculum (majority of the female characters being depicted as weak and helpless).
Workforce participation
Contrary to the common perception, a large percent of women in India work. The National data collection agencies accept the fact that there is a serious under-estimation of women's contribution as workers. However, there are far fewer women in the paid workforce than there are men. In urban India Women have impressive number in the workforce. As an example at software industry 30% of the workforce is female. They are at par with their male counter parts in terms of wages, position at the work place.
In rural India, agriculture and allied industrial sectors employ as much as 89.5% of the total female labour. In overall farm production, women's average contribution is estimated at 55% to 66% of the total labour. According to a 1991 World Bank report, women accounted for 94% of total employment in dairy production in India. Women constitute 51% of the total employed in forest-based small-scale enterprises.
One of the most famous female business success stories is the Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad. In 2006, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who started Biocon - one of India's first biotech companies, was rated India's richest woman. Lalita Gupte and Kalpana Morparia (both were the only businesswomen in India who made the list of the Forbes World's Most Powerful Women), run India's second-largest bank, ICICI Bank.
Land and property rights
In most Indian families , women do not own any property in their own names, and do not get a share of parental property. Due to weak enforcement of laws protecting them, women continue to have little access to land and property. In fact, some of the laws discriminate against women, when it comes to land and property rights.
The Hindu personal laws of mid-1956s (applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains) gave women rights to inheritance. However, the sons had an independent share in the ancestral property, while the daughters' shares were based on the share received by their father. Hence, a father could effectively disinherit a daughter by renouncing his share of the ancestral property, but the son will continue to have a share in his own right. Additionally, married daughters, even those facing marital harassment, had no residential rights in the ancestral home. After amendment of Hindu laws in 2005, now women in have been provided the same status as that of men.
In 1986, the Supreme Court of India ruled that Shah Bano, an old divorced Muslim woman was eligible for maintenance money. However, the decision was vociferously opposed by fundamentalist Muslim leaders, who alleged that the court was interfering in their personal law. The Union Government subsequently passed the Muslim Women's (Protection of Rights Upon Divorce) Act.
Similarly, the Christian women have struggled over years for equal rights of divorce and succession. In 1994, all the churches, jointly with women's organisations, drew up a draft law called the Christian Marriage and Matrimonial Causes Bill. However, the government has still not amended the relevant laws.
Crimes against women
Police records show high incidence of crimes against women in India. The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010. Earlier, many cases were not registered with the police due to the social stigma attached to rape and molestation cases. Official statistics show that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of reported crimes against women.
Sexual harassment
Half of the total number of crimes against women reported in 1990 related to molestation and harassment at the workplace. Eve teasing is a euphemism used for sexual harassment or molestation of women by men. Many activists blame the rising incidents of sexual harassment against women on the influence of "Western culture". In 1987, The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act was passed to prohibit indecent representation of women through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner.
In 1997, in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court of India took a strong stand against sexual harassment of women in the workplace. The Court also laid down detailed guidelines for prevention and redressal of grievances. The National Commission for Women subsequently elaborated these guidelines into a Code of Conduct for employers.
Dowry
In 1961, the Government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act, making the dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal. However, many cases of dowry-related domestic violence, suicides and murders have been reported. In the 1980s, numerous such cases were reported.
In 1985, the Dowry Prohibition (maintenance of lists of presents to the bride and bridegroom) rules were framed. According to these rules, a signed list of presents given at the time of the marriage to the bride and the bridegroom should be maintained. The list should contain a brief description of each present, its approximate value, the name of whoever has given the present and his/her relationship to the person. However, such rules are hardly enforced.
A 1997 report claimed that at least 5,000 women die each year because of dowry deaths, and at least a dozen die each day in 'kitchen fires' thought to be intentional. The term for this is "bride burning" and is criticized within India itself. Amongst the urban educated, such dowry abuse has reduced considerably.
Child marriage
Child marriage has been traditionally prevalent in India and continues to this day. Historically, young girls would live with their parents until they reached puberty. In the past, the child widows were condemned to a life of great agony, shaving heads, living in isolation, and shunned by the society. Although child marriage was outlawed in 1860, it is still a common practice.
According to UNICEF’s “State of the World’s Children-2009” report, 47% of India's women aged 20–24 were married before the legal age of 18, with 56% in rural areas. The report also showed that 40% of the world's child marriages occur in India.
Female infanticides and sex selective abortions
Main article: Sex-selective abortion and infanticide
India has a highly masculine sex ratio, the chief reason being that many women die before reaching adulthood. Tribal societies in India have a less masculine sex ratio than all other caste groups. This, in spite of the fact that tribal communities have far lower levels of income, literacy and health facilities. It is therefore suggested by many experts, that the highly masculine sex ratio in India can be attributed to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions.
All medical tests that can be used to determine the sex of the child have been banned in India, due to incidents of these tests being used to get rid of unwanted female children before birth. Female infanticide (killing of girl infants) is still prevalent in some rural areas. The abuse of the dowry tradition has been one of the main reasons for sex-selective abortions and female infanticides in India.
Domestic violence
The incidents of domestic violence are higher among the lower Socio-Economic Classes (SECs). The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 came into force on October 26, 2006.
Trafficking
The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was passed in 1956. However many cases of trafficking of young girls and women have been reported. These women are either forced into prostitution, domestic work or child labour.
Other concerns
Health
The average female life expectancy today in India is low compared to many countries, but it has shown gradual improvement over the years. In many families, especially rural ones, the girls and women face nutritional discrimination within the family, and are anaemic and malnourished.
The maternal mortality in India is the second highest in the world. Only 42% of births in the country are supervised by health professionals. Most women deliver with help from women in the family who often lack the skills and resources to save the mother's life if it is in danger. According to UNDP Human Development Report (1997), 88% of pregnant women (age 15-49) were found to be suffering from anaemia.
Family planning
The average woman in rural areas of India has little or no control over her reproductivity. Women, particularly women in rural areas, do not have access to safe and self-controlled methods of contraception. The public health system emphasises permanent methods like sterilisation, or long-term methods like IUDs that do not need follow-up. Sterilization accounts for more than 75% of total contraception, with female sterilisation accounting for almost 95% of all sterilisations.
Role of press in protecting the Communal Harmony
Media plays a mediator role between the people of the nation and the government; it is highlighting the people’s problem in front of the government and taking feedback from the government upon social and safety issues of the nation in terms of national welfare.
In a democratic India, media is a fourth pillar of the democracy due to its social responsibilities, but at the age of 60 years of independence and the economical growth towards no.1 power of the world by 2020, the role of the media is very uncertain and putting question mark on Indian journalism. Before going ahead, we have to stop and think: Is Indian media plays a role for that it is been known - fourth pillar of the nation? If not, then what role it should play? And the answer is fair, impartial, reliable reporting and accurate news analyzation. As far as news concern, media should take a very rigid stand to analyze the news, how it happens and how it came into the existence to know the root cause of the problem. But, rather going deep into the problem, journalists are blindly accepting the truth which is formulated by the police or some social evil elements and proliferate the same publicly. In many cases innocent people have been charged and guilty enjoy their sin with the contentment to commit it again.
In a democratic India, media is a fourth pillar of the democracy due to its social responsibilities, but at the age of 60 years of independence and the economical growth towards no.1 power of the world by 2020, the role of the media is very uncertain and putting question mark on Indian journalism. Before going ahead, we have to stop and think: Is Indian media plays a role for that it is been known - fourth pillar of the nation? If not, then what role it should play? And the answer is fair, impartial, reliable reporting and accurate news analyzation. As far as news concern, media should take a very rigid stand to analyze the news, how it happens and how it came into the existence to know the root cause of the problem. But, rather going deep into the problem, journalists are blindly accepting the truth which is formulated by the police or some social evil elements and proliferate the same publicly. In many cases innocent people have been charged and guilty enjoy their sin with the contentment to commit it again.
India is a multi-cultural country, thus, we have very sensitive social structure, once someone caught or labeled as guilty, he will never be able to re-start his life again. Instead he will be welcomed by taunts and social grouses, so that he detains himself in a dark life. We are proud to be Indian because of our multi-cultural and value system of India, which gives every Indian an equal opportunity to live and grow in a national stream-line upon his capabilities and skills to be a part of modern develop India.
Thus, this is the responsibility of every Indian to play a part of his role to facilitate others in terms of fair living, equal opportunity, communal harmony and social welfare ness.
As it is an established fact that everyone is responsible for his own deeds or sins, therefore, it is not wise to target a community or a religion for a sin of one person or few people. Similarly, entire community of journalists should not be fall under suspicious category for the misdeeds or inappropriate reporting of few journalists. Everybody knows police plays a partial role during riots or investigation on terrorism; we have several examples like Sri Krishna Commission Report, Godhra and Gujrat Riot Reports, etc.
Recently Banglore and Ahmed are witness of terrorist attacks, here, the question is: are terrorist more organized and smart than our security agencies. Center had the information and they have also informed state government to be ready to tackle such situation. Amazing! Terrorist are attacking one after another, but we are unable to trace them. If we had the information of attacks then why attacks are not averted? Why terrorists are not caught before the attacks?
As it is an established fact that everyone is responsible for his own deeds or sins, therefore, it is not wise to target a community or a religion for a sin of one person or few people. Similarly, entire community of journalists should not be fall under suspicious category for the misdeeds or inappropriate reporting of few journalists. Everybody knows police plays a partial role during riots or investigation on terrorism; we have several examples like Sri Krishna Commission Report, Godhra and Gujrat Riot Reports, etc.
Recently Banglore and Ahmed are witness of terrorist attacks, here, the question is: are terrorist more organized and smart than our security agencies. Center had the information and they have also informed state government to be ready to tackle such situation. Amazing! Terrorist are attacking one after another, but we are unable to trace them. If we had the information of attacks then why attacks are not averted? Why terrorists are not caught before the attacks?
We all know that some organizations are distributing weapons among their community; what happens to this issue? Nothing; neither reported nor propagated so precisely. We can consider the double standard of police and politicians, but how could we expect the same standard from the journalism! Which is the fourth pillar of the Indian democracy? We know better, when one pillar collapse, whole building tumble on the ground.
Many sensational, burning, social and national issues need the concentration of journalism to break the ice and bring them back in the news to explore, discuss and analyze to make the truth distinct from ambiguous or falsehood, only then social evil die and people of the state and the nation will live in peace and harmony in this charismatic and multi cultural nation.
When this will happen, indeed, this would be the first step towards the healthy society and a step to fulfill our dream towards number one power of the world. Now, this is the responsibility of the Indian journalism, how they are going to shape and direct the new generation of the nation towards prosperity, communal harmony, equality, tolerance, and national-integrity or towards communal hatred and inequality.
Media & Communal Riots
- MEDIA AND COMMUNAL RIOTS
- The media is the conscience and voice of the society and should adopt self control and self discipline in order to perform its duties more efficiently and diligently
- SOMETIMES MEDIA SENSATIONALIZES ISSUES WHICH IS HARMFUL TO THE SOCIETY AS A WHOLE
It should be responsive to the Society
There should be a self imposed Code of Conduct in the larger interest of the society
Censorship is harmful for the freedom of Press and media should not create a situation in which censorship become inevitable
Self-imposed code of regulation is the need of the hour and anybody violating it should be dealt with stringently by the fraternity itself - Remember:
Facts are sacred and comment-free
Get both sides of the story
Check your facts before writing them
But they are not enough in reporting communal riots . . . - The guiding rules for reporters should be:
Look for the background
Don't perpetuate the stereotype
Find residents who deal with both communities;
Corroborate victims' accounts as well as police accounts
Ascertain the role of the police, the politicians and the media
Highlight stories where communities have helped each other - Do not to name the communities involved (to prevent readers from getting worked up)
Bland reports about two groups clashing and one place of worship being attacked are designed to leave readers of both communities in the dark, which is good in a way
Reporting a communal event is as sensitive, delicate and challenging as the event itself - When reported in the media, certain events assume and induce repercussion of national, and sometimes international, character
- The media, which enjoys the utmost freedom of expression, has a great and vital role to play in moulding public opinion on correct lines in regard to the need of friendly and harmonious relations between various communities and religious groups and thus promote national solidarity
- The media should not to distort, or exaggerate, should not employ intemperate, inciting and unrestrained language
The local papers particularly should strictly adhere to this norm - The role of media in such situations is to be peacemakers and not abettors, to be troubleshooters and not troublemakers
Let the media play their noble role of promoting peace and harmony among the people in times of crises
Any trend to disrupt the peace either directly or indirectly should be considered an anti-national act - The media consider its reportage in the interest of the nation as a whole
- Any news report printed or published by the print media or relayed by the electronic media in contravention of ethical norms in reporting or commenting on matters pertaining to communal harmony is likely to invite penal action under the provisions of Section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code and allied provisions
- The Press Council by the norms set out, ordained the media to avoid sensational, provocative and alarming headlines, avoid details that might hurt religious sentiments; as also the reports that could undermine the people’s confidence in the maintenance and restoration of peace and law and order
- The importance of the media is in imparting to the citizens at large, information and analysis in a balanced and impartial manner
The media, as a chronicle of tomorrow’s history, owes an undeniable duty to the future to record events as simple untailored facts - In times crisis, facts unadorned and simply put, with due care and restraint, cannot be reasonably objected to in a democracy
However, a heavy responsibility devolves on the author of opinion articles
The journalist has to ensure that not only are his or her analysis free from any personal preferences, prejudices or notions, but also they are based on verified, accurate and established facts and do not tend to foment disharmony or enmity between castes, communities and races - The prime objective of Press Council of India (PCI) is to awaken the press to the need for conforming to the highest ethical standards
Even in its quasi-judicial role the Press Council does not don the mantle of a taskmaster
Its aims not to punish but to act as a conscience keeper and advisor to provoke the media to introspect on the ethicality of its reportage
This is possible, only if cooperation is extended from all quarters including the press in its own interest - A greater onus lies in times of crisis on the regional media rather than the national media, in restoring the faith of the public in the law and order situation and encouraging communal harmony and amity
- The media should be well advised to give due consideration to the implications and impact of its coverage of this and similar instances when truth and factual accuracy alone cannot be the criterion to determine the suitability of a publication that could as well foment passions as douse them
- Norm 23 of the Guide to Journalistic Ethics, reproduced as follows:
Photo-journalism is an important part of the print media. While intrusion through photography into personal grief likely to hurt sentiments or arouse communal passions, should be avoided, publication of photographs serving the larger public interest can not be termed as unethical or in bad taste
At the same time, another norm (24 C of the Guide to Journalistic Ethics) advises the press to avoid mentioning the names of communities of the victims of the riots - The editor should be vigilant in allowing the publication of photographs with the captions appended
Actually, no hard and fast rules can be laid down in the matter and the editor has to allow his conscience to guide him up the path of ethical rectitude
Reports and / or photographs that may directly or indirectly give away the identity of the victims / attackers should be avoided - Cultural and religious symbols / images that may give away the identity of the victims or attackers should be avoided.
Press and Swadeshi Movement
The newspapers played an important role in the national awakening, imbibing
progressive ideas, and being drawn as an active force into a great social, political, and
cultural movement in India. The press continuously worked to spread the education and
the general awareness of national pride and socio-political consciousness among the
different sections of the people. Subsequent growth of print in the form of press helped
the creation of a new norm language (through historical selection), which was to be
adopted by elites of sub-regions of a linguistic area. This is the basic process, which has
happened all over India and led to the linguistic organization of regions. The chief
instrument through which the national minded Indians spread the message of patriotism
and modern economic, social and political ideas and created an all India consciousness
was the press. The idea of printing press was a revolutionary one among the Indian
people which brought the awakening and growth of national consciousness among
themselves. In the glorious chapters of the history of journalism in India, Maharashtra
with her history of journalism occupies a place of pride and honor. A unique feature of
the role of Marathi press in the nineteenth century was that it was used as a powerful
vehicle for mass communication. The newspapers had work to motivate people and
prepare them for the freedom struggle. Thus, the present paper will try to find out the
importance of the Marathi newspaper in bringing consciousness among the
Maharashtrian people regarding the Freedom Movement. It will also try to access the
successfulness of these newspapers in doing so.
Introduction
In the glorious chapters of the history of journalism in India, Maharashtra with her
history of journalism occupies a place of pride and honour. Marathi press in the
nineteenth century was used as a powerful vehicle for mass communication. The
newspapers had work to motivate people and prepare them for the freedom struggle.
The two weeklies, Kesari in Marathi and the Maratha in English were started by a
batch of young people - Vishnu Shashtri Chiploonkar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vaman
Shivaram Apte, Ganesh Krishna Garde, and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Narain Krushna
Dharap, Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi and Vasudev Balkrushna Kelakar (Kesari, 1902).
Chiploonkar died in 1882, and the Kesari was taken over by Agarkar and Tilak. The
dispute between Agarkar and Tilak, about the priority for the political or social reforms
ended with the exit of Agarkar from Kesari. Later these two weeklies, Kesari and
Maratha were run by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The starting of Kesari not only brought a new
age in the Marathi journalism, but also a new age in the freedom movement of
Maharashtra. In the leading article of the first issue of the Kesari, published on January 4,
1881, newspaper was compared to a night watchman, keeping the executive officers in
wholesome fear of public opinion. Among the objects was to bring an improvement in
the social conditions and for the people were to be told frankly what was evil and harmful
in their ways. Kesari was the principal mouthpiece of the extremist nationalistic politics
in the whole country (Varma, 1978).
The Swadeshi Movement
The Swadeshi Movement was the first mass movement, though limited, in the
history of Indian nationalism. The movement was actually started as an agitation against
the partition of Bengal. The partition of Bengal in 1905 by Lord Curzon was intended for
further weakening the Congress which was little to show for its existence in 1903
(McLane, 1977), and dividing the articulated Bengali community which had controlled
the Congress so as to weaken the growing nationalism. The partition plan indeed intended
to further weaken the inactive Congress saw a reversal. In reality it gave enthusiasm to
the organization. The Moderates opposed the plan through deploying moderate methods
such as press campaign, meetings, petitions and conferences at the Calcutta Town Hall in
March 1904. Scores of petitions were sent to the British government. However, their
efforts went in vain and the partition was ultimately set in. The day of the partition of
Bengal was observed by the Moderates as a day of mourning.
As their traditional techniques of petitioning had failed in stopping the partition,
the Moderates went beyond their conventional political methods. Thus, Surendranath
Banerjea gave a call for the boycott of British goods and institutions at a meeting in
Calcutta 1905. A formal boycott resolution was passed on August 7, 1905 at Calcutta
Town Hall, which marked the beginning of Swadeshi Movement. In the Indian National
Congress (INC) annual conference held at Banaras in 1905, the call for Swadeshi was
formally adopted under G. K. Gokhale. Though a Moderate, Gokhale supported the
Swadeshi and boycott movement for Bengal. In other words the Swadeshi Movement for
Moderates was to be confined to Bengal only and they did not want to make it a national
movement. But, the militant nationalists led by Tilak, Bepin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai
and Aurobindo Ghosh advocated to extend the movement to the rest of India and to carry
it beyond the programme of just Swadeshi and boycott to a full-fledged political mass
struggle. Their aim was Swaraj and the abrogation of partition had taken a back seat.
Swaraj had different meaning with different leaders. For Tilak Swaraj meant Indian
control over administration, but not a total severance of relations with Great Britain.
Whereas Bepin Chandra Pal believed that no self-government is possible under British
paramountcy; so for him Swaraj was complete autonomy, absolutely free of British
control. It meant an absolute political independence for Aurobindo Ghosh.
(Bandyopadhyay, 2004). Thus, their goal of Swaraj had to be gained through more
radical ways than that of the Moderates. Therefore the Extremists followed the method
which was called as a passive resistance. It meant opposition to colonial rule through
violation of unjust laws, boycott of the British goods and institutions and development of
their alternatives - Swadeshi, and national education.
Press in the Last Phase of Freedom Movement
Bhagat Singh, a young marxist from Punjab, vowed to avenge Lala Lajapt Rai’s death. With the help of Chandrashekhar Azad, Rajguru and Sukhdev, plotted to kill Scott a police officer who had brutally beaten up Lalaji. However instead of Scott, they killed a junior officer named Mr. Sanders,thereby incurring the wrath of the administration.The British, under the Defence of India Act, empowered the police to arrest people and stop processions on the flimsiest pretext.
To protest against this decision, Bhagat Singh and an accomplice, Batukeshwar Dutt threw handouts, and threw a hand grenade duirng an ongoing session in Delhi’s Central Assembly , on 8 April 1929. They cheerfully courted arrest after shouting slogans of "Inquilab Zindabad!" (Long Live, Revolution!). Bhagat Singh was found guilty, and was hanged on 23 March 1931.
On 18 April 1930, young revolutionaries in Bengal (including Preetilata Waddedar and Kalapana Dutt) led by Surya Sen (a.k.a Masterda = teacher,sir) attacked and burned down the British Armory in Chittagong (modern Bangladesh).They fought a heroic battle on the hills of Jalalabad where twelve revolutionaries were killed. On 23 September 1932, Surya Sen masterminded an successful attack on the European Club in Chittagong, which displayed a nefarious sign: Dogs and Indians not allowed. Surya Sen was finally captured on 17 February 1933 and hanged in Chittagong Jail on 8th January,1934.
In April 1930, there were violent clashes between the police and the masses in Calcutta. Thousands of people were imprisoned in the course of the Civil disobedience movement (1930-31). While Gandhi was in jail, the first Round Table Conference was held in London in November 1930; it was completely boycotted by the congressmen and therefore, futile. The ban upon the Congress was removed due to the economic hardships caused by the Salt Satyagraha (movement for truth) Gandhi, and other members of the Congress Working Committee, was released from prison in January 1931.
In April 1930, there were violent clashes between the police and the masses in Calcutta. Thousands of people were imprisoned in the course of the Civil disobedience movement (1930-31). While Gandhi was in jail, the first Round Table Conference was held in London in November 1930; it was completely boycotted by the congressmen and therefore, futile. The ban upon the Congress was removed due to the economic hardships caused by the Salt Satyagraha (movement for truth) Gandhi, and other members of the Congress Working Committee, was released from prison in January 1931.
In March of 1931, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed, with the government agreeing to release all political prisoners. Gandhi agreed to discontinue the civil disobedience movement and participate in the second Round Table Conference, which was held in London in September 1931. However, this meet too, ended in failure. In December 1931, a dejected Gandhi returned to India, determined to resume the Civil Disobedience Movement in January 1932.
During the next few years, the Congress and the government were perpetually involved in conflicts and negotiations until the enforcement of the Government of India Act of 1935. In the meantime, the gap between the Congress and the Muslim League was growing with both sides indulging in accusations and mud-slinging. The Muslim League disputed the claim of the Congress to represent all people of India, while the Congress disputed the Muslim League's claim to voice the aspirations of all Muslims.
During World War II the Congress decided that India should co-operate with Britain on condition that complete independence be granted to India after the war was over. Meanwhile the rift between Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Muslim League and the Congress' objectives widened further. Early in 1940, Jinnah publicly declared the creation of Pakistan as the ultimate goal of the League.
On 13th March 1940, more than two decades after the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy, Udham Singh, a revolutionary (who had many contacts in Europe and UK) shot dead Michael O'Dwyer, the masterbrain behind the massacre, during a joint meeting of the East India Association and the Royal Central Asia Society, the venue for which was Caxton Hall in London. Udham Singh was hanged in London on June 12, 1940.
During the on ging World War II, after the fall of France in 1940, Gandhi declared, "We do not seek independence out of Britain's ruin." The British replied with the offer that a `constituent assembly as well as Dominion status would be discussed `after the war’.
India’s arbitrary entry into the World War II was strongly opposed by Subhash Chandra Bose, President of the Congress in 1937 and later in1939. Resigning from Congress in 1939 Bose floated a new party, the All India Forward Bloc. In 1941 he dexterously escaped from house arrest in Calcutta, and resurfaced in Germany. There he garnered German and Japanese help to fight the British in India.
In March 1942, the British government, by means of the 'Cripps' Mission attempted to secure Indian cooperation and support for their efforts in thestill raging World War II. The mission was headed by Sir Stafford Cripps, a senior Labour Party politician and government minister in the War Cabinet headed by the premier Winston Churchill.
In India, Cripps parleyed with the Indian leaders. But his failure to present any concrete proposals for greater self-government, the Congress leaders felt that the British were not interested in granting India self-government or respecting Indian public opinion on the war. Offended, the Congress halted all talks with Cripps. The nation guided by Gandhi, vociferously demanded immediate self-government in turn for war support. Finding the British unresponsive, Gandhi gave the clarion call for the British to “ Quit India. ” The movement was launched on August 8, 1942 in Bombay and immediately caught on like wild fire across the country. It was a “Do or Die” attempt on the part of the leaders as well as the masses.
In 1943, Bose went to Japan, where he helped organize the Indian National Army (a.k.a Azad Hind Fauj) and set up a government-in-exile. Shortly afterwards, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands came under INA control. Pressing forward, the INA traversed Nagaland,finally reaching Manipur. Unfortunately, lack of equipment,ammunitions coupled half-hearted support from Japan, took a heavy toll of the INA soldiers. the INA's efforts ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. Bose was reportedly killed in an air crash in August 1945. His end is still shrouded in mystery.
The victory of Britain’s Labour Party' in the elections of 1945 was a shot in the arm for the Indian freedom fighters, as the party had long championed the cause of India’s freedom. helped reassess the merits of the traditional policies. While the British were negotiating to transfer power to India, the Muslim League renewed its demand for the formation of Pakistan. Jinnah, who was opposed to sharing power with the Indian National Congress, declared 16 August 1946 as Direct Action Day, which led to communal rioting in many places in the northern part of the country. Thousands of people lost their lives. On 3 June 1947, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy, announced plans for the bifurcation o the British Indian Empire into a secular India, and Islamic Pakistan, which was divided into east and west wings on either side of India.
At midnight on August 14, 1947, India became an independent nation, with Jawaharlal Nehru as its first prime minister. Gandhi, who as dead against the idea of a divided India, spent the day fasting and praying in Calcutta. Muslims in the northwest and northeast of India were assimilated into Pakistan. Violent clashes between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs followed. The area of Kashmir became a source of controversy that erupted into the First Indo-Pakistani War which lasted from 1947 to 1949.India and Pakistan were granted full autonomy, with the King-Emperor crowned as the Head of State of both India and Pakistan, and the Governor General as the King's representative. In 1948, Mountbatten was succeeded by Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, a veteran Congress leader. Mohammed Ali Jinnah assumed charge as Pakistan's Governor General, with Liaquat Ali Khan as Prime Minister.
History of Journalism in Kerala
Newspapers are the larges source of news in any part of the country. The people of Kerala too subscribe to some of newspaper or other. Now these papers may be regional i.e. printed in Kerala itself or some of the leading national dailies. Kerala newspapers are either English newspapers or Malayalam Newspapers.
Doctrina Christam written in "Malayalam Tamul" by Fr. Henrique Henriques, a Jesuit priest is believed to be the first book to be printed in Kerala. This was in the year 1578 at Kollam. However the first Malayalam book came out in 1824 from CMS Press, Kottayam founded by Benjamin Bailey in the year 1821.
A landmark in the history of book publication in Kerala was the setting up of Sahitya Pravarthaka Sahakarana Sanghom on 30 April 1945, a co-operative society by literary writers for publishing books in Malayalam.
The history of news media in Kerala begins with the publication of Rajyasamacharam, the first newspaper of Kerala. This was started for religious propagation by the Christian missionaries of Basel Mission in June 1847 from Illikunnu near Thalasseri (Tellicherry). Subsequently two more newspapers Paschimodayam (1847 October) and Njananikshepam (1848 November) came out from Tellicherry and Kottayam respectively.
Deepika is among the first few newspapers published in India. It is also the first Malayalam daily and hence pioneered the case of Malayalam journalism.
Another major development was the publication of Nasrani Deepika on 15 April 1887 from Mannanam near Kottayam as a fortnightly. The publication started under the editorship of a Catholic priest Nidhiry Mani Kathanar later became a daily newspaper on 3 January 1927. The paper was renamed as Deepika in 1938 and it continues to be published even today.
Malayala Manorama was started from Kottayam on 22 March 1890 by Kandathil Varghese Mappillai as a weekly. This became a daily in 1928 and is the largest circulating daily of Kerala today.
With a reader base of over 9 million and a circulation of about 1.4 million copies, the Malayala Manorama is the leading daily in Kerala. The paper was initially published on 22nd March 1890. Now, its web edition is available at www.manoramaonline.com and the site has both English and Malayalam editions. A number of magazines and reference books are being published by the group including 'The Week' and their Year book in several languages such as English, Malayalam, Tamil, Bengali and Hindi.
K. Ramakrishna Pillai popularly known as Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai is the first journalist in Kerala who was exiled. He was exiled from the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in 26 September 1910, for criticizing the then rulers. He is also credited with authoring the first book on journalism titled Vrithantha Pathra Pravarthanam in Malayalam as early as in 1912.
Kerala Kaumudi was started in 1911 in Mayyanad in Kollam under the editorship of C.V. Kunhiraman as a weekly and was later converted to a daily and is one of the leading newspapers today.
Mathrubhumi newspaper was started as part of the nationalist movement and Indian independence movement on 18 March 1923, under the editorship of K. P. Kesava Menon. It was started as a tri-weekly at Kozhikode and was later made a daily in 6 April 1930. Today it is the second largest circulated daily of Kerala.
Deshabhimani started in 1942 as the organ of the Communist Party of India under the editorship of M. S. Devadas from Kozhikode became a daily in 1946. Today it is the one of the largest daily in the state and is the organ of the Communist Part of India (Marxist).
Madhyamam began publishing in 1987 at Silver Hills near Calicut. Veteran journalist, Kuldip Nayar inaugurated the publishing. Madhyamam has its core readership in the Malabar Muslim community. It has seven editions across the state of Kerala and a considerable readership. Madhyamam is owned by the Ideal Publications Trust, which claims as their aim providing non-profit non-partisan and value-based journalistic service free from market pressures.Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, Malayalam writer, said that it was the birth of a silver star. K C Abdullah, P K Balakrishnan and K A Kodungallur were among its editors at the early stage.Today it is the third largest circulated daily of Kerala.
Kerala Kaumudi is a widely circulated Malayalam newspaper. Initially it was published in 1911. The paper's online editions in Malayalam and English available at www.keralakaumudi.com and www.kamudi.com are updated twice a day. It also has online editions published from London, New York and Singapore.
There are nearly 1140 malayalam newspapers with a total circulation of 76, 68,000 copies. The circulation of dailies alone is 22, 63,000.
Some of the popular weeklies in Malayalam today are Mathrubhumi weekly (1932), Kalakaumudi weekly (1976), India Today (Malayalam) (1987) , Samakalika Malayalam (1997)and Madhyamam weekly (1998).
Newspapers
Dozens of newspapers are published in Kerala. The principal languages of publication are Malayalam and English. The most widely circulating Malayalam-language newspapers include Desabhimani, Mathrubhumi, Malayala Manorama, Mangalam , Deepika, Kerala Kaumudi, Janayugam, Thejas, Varthamanam, Chandrika, Janmabhumi, Madhyamam and Metro Vaartha. Among List of Malayalam periodicals major Malayalam periodicals are Madhyamam weekly, Mathrubhumi weekly, India Today Malayalam, Chithrabhumi, Thejas, Kanyaka and Bhashaposhini.
Defunct Malayalam newspapers
These defunct newspapers played important roles in the public life of Kerala during stormy periods by courageously expressing dissent, and reflecting and molding public opinion. Many of the newspapers had to close due to persecution by the authorities. The names of some of them survive as sobriquets of their editors.Current Malayalam newspapers
- General founded In 1976 , From Thrissur , Kerala .
- Chandrika fouded by Indian Union Muslim League
- Deepika (founded and edited initially by Nidhiry Mani Kathanar)
- Deshabhimani (founded by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and edited initially by V. V. Dakshinamoorthi)
- Kerala Kaumudi (founded and edited initially by C. V. Kunhiraman)
- Madhyamam (founded by the Ideal Publications Trust and edited initially by P. K. Balakrishnan and K. A. Kodungallur)
- Malayala Manorama (founded and edited initially by Kandathil Varghese Mappila)
- Mangalam (founded by M. C. Varghese)
- Mathrubhumi (founded and edited initially by K. P. Kesava Menon)
- Veekshanam edited by K.L.Mohanavarma
- Varthamanam edited by Jafar Atholi
- Janmabhumi edited by Hari.S. Kartha.
- Janayugam founded by Communist Party of India edited by Veliyam Bharghavan
- Metro Vaartha Editor: Renji Panicker.
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