1. GROWTH OF PRESS AND EDUCATION IN INDIA

The growth of the press in 19th-century India was influenced by many social currents. The press developed as a representative of the educated sections. It became a crucial tool in the hands of the nationalists. On the other hand, the English education resulted in the emergence of a new section of educated middle classes in the society. It led to the encouragement of the learned natives and the revival and improvement of literature and the promotion of the knowledge of sciences.

The History of the Press in India begins with the establishment of the Printing Press by the Portuguese in 1557. In 1684, the English East India Company set up a Printing Press in Bombay. For about a century, no newspapers were published in the Company’s territories because the Company’s servants in India wished to withhold the news of their malpractices and abuses of private trading from reaching London. In 1776, William Bolts announced his intention to publish a newspaper and made it known that he had in his possession a manuscript, consisting of certain concealed facts, concerning every individual. The official quarters at once reacted and Bolts’ scheme ended in embryo.

James Augustus Hickey published the first newspaper in India entitled The Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser in the year 1780. His press was seized in 1782. The Calcutta Gazette, The Bengal Journal, the Oriental Magazine of Calcutta or Calcutta Amusement, The Calcutta Chronicle, The Madras Courier, The Bombay Herald, etc were some of the earlier newspapers published in India.