Vernacular Press Act

rdf:langString Vernacular Press Act

rdf:langString Imperial Legislative Council

rdf:langString The Native press Act,1878

rdf:langString repealed

rdf:langString Vernacular comes from the Latin word vernaculus, which means "native" or "indigenous." Ideally, vernacular is the way ordinary people communicate with each other. In British India, the Vernacular Press Act (1878) was enacted to curtail the freedom of the Indian press and prevent the expression of criticism toward British policies—notably, the opposition that had grown with the outset of the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–80). The government adopted the Vernacular Press Act 1878 to regulate the indigenous press in order to manage strong public opinion and seditious writing producing unhappiness among the people of native region with the government. The Act was proposed by Lytton, then Viceroy of India, and was unanimously passed by the Viceroy's Council on 14 March 1878. The act excluded English-language publications as it was meant to control seditious writing in 'publications in Oriental languages' everywhere in the country, except for the South. Thus the British totally discriminated against the (non-English language) Indian Press. The act empowered the government to impose restrictions on the press in the following ways: 1. Modelled on the Irish press act, this act provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the Vernacular press. 2. From now on the government kept regular track of Vernacular newspapers. 3. When a report published in the newspaper was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned.

rdf:langString The Seditious Publications Act,1882