What was the importance of newspapers during British rule in India?

Prominent Journals and Newspapers during British rule in India significantly impacted the masses. Leaders used newspapers and journals to effectively convey their ideas and groups, igniting the fire to fight for independence from the cruel British rule.

Which was the first Newspaper in India started by the British?

The first Newspaper in India, started by the British in India, was Hicky's Bengal Gazette in the English language. It was created and published by James Augustus Hicky in 1779. Though this Newspaper was an English newspaper, Anglo-Indian expressions were used. Learn who published the first newspaper in India here.

What are some important newspapers during freedom struggle in India?

Many newspapers were published by the prominent leaders of the Indian freedom struggle during the pre-independence period. A few important newspapers include Indian Mirror Newspaper by Devandra Nath Tagore, Hindustan Times by Madan Mohan Malaviya, Harijan by Gandhi, and more.

Which is the first Marathi newspaper in India?

Darpan was the first Marathi newspaper, started by Balshastri Jambhekar . It was started in 1832 and was published as bilingual (English-Marathi) fortnightly. The publication was stopped in 1840.

Who started Yugantar newspaper during the freedom struggle?

Yugantar newspaper or the Jugantar Patrika was published by Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Abhinash Bhattacharya, and Bhupendranath Dutt. It was started in 1906 in Calcutta as a Bengali revolutionary newspaper.

Who was the founder of the Indian Mirror Newspaper?

Devendra Nath Tagore was the founder of the Indian Mirror Newspaper. This Newspaper was an English newspaper edited by Manmohan Ghosh and Pratap Mazumdar. After its successive influence on the masses, it was supported by Narendra Nath Sen.

In which month the Indian Mirror Newspaper was written?

The Indian Mirror newspaper was written on Aug 1, 1861, in Calcutta, India, in English by Devendra Nath Tagore. It was owned by Keshab Chandra Sen, and Manmohan Gosh was its prominent editor.

Did newspapers play a major role in freedom movement?

Yes, newspapers during freedom struggle were extremely crucial to spread patriotic feelings to the masses. It was a highly popular and cheap print media source at that time. Therefore, common people used to read about the nationalist activities and movements led by various freedom fighters across the country through newspapers by freedom fighters.

Is it important for UPSC aspirants to know about the important newspapers during Indian freedom struggle?

Yes, important newspapers in Indian history UPSC notes must be studied carefully by all Civil Services aspirants. Questions from this topic are easy to score and can be asked in Prelims and Mains examinations.

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Important Newspapers During Freedom Struggle, Indian Mirror Newspaper

By BYJU'S Exam Prep

Updated on: November 14th, 2023

Newspapers during the freedom struggle in India were an important source of mass communication throughout the country. Leaders like Devendra Nath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, etc., used the newspaper to spread awareness among the masses. The impact of these journals and newspapers was limited to towns and cities and reached remote villages.

Newspapers during British Rule in India propagated the idea of patriotism, equality, the modern idea of democracy, and most importantly, ideas of freedom. Below you will learn about the important newspapers during the freedom struggle in India, important freedom fighters and their newspapers, and early regulations on the press in India.

Table of content

1. List of Important Newspapers during Indian Freedom Struggle
2. Freedom Fighters and their Newspapers
3. Indian Mirror Newspaper
4. Mahatma Gandhi Newspaper List
5. Early Regulations on Press in India
6. Role of Newspapers in Freedom Struggle

List of Important Newspapers during Indian Freedom Struggle

Journals and Newspapers were the critical tools that united the compatriots and served the political education and participation pre-independence.

Important Newspapers during Freedom Struggle PDF

Britishers published the first English newspaper in India, but Indian freedom fighters used it against British rule. The list of the important journals and newspapers during British government in India, along with their year of publication and founders, is as under:

Name	Founder	Year	Newspaper/ Journal
Hindustan Dainik	M.M. Malviya	1936	Hindi newspaper
Free Hindustan	Tarak Nath Das	1936	Journal
Harijan	M. K Gandhi	1932	Weekly Journal
Nav Jeevan	M. K Gandhi	1929	Weekly Newspaper
Hindustan Times	Sunder Singh Lyallpuri	1924	English daily newspaper
Mook Nayak	B.R. Ambedkar	1920	Marathi Weekly
Young India	M. K Gandhi	1919	Weekly Journal
Independent	Motilal Nehru	1919	Newspaper
New India	Annie Besant	1914	English-language daily newspaper
Pratap	Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi	1913	Hindi language newspaper
Al-Hilal	Abul Kalam Azad	1912	Urdu weekly newspaper
Al-Balagh	Abul Kalam Azad	1912	Urdu weekly newspaper
Comrade	Maulana Mohammad Ali	1911	Weekly English newspaper
Bombay Chronicle	Firoze Shah Mehta	1910	English-language newspaper
Bande Mataram	Aurobindo Ghosh	1905	English-language newspaper
Indian Opinion	M. K Gandhi	1903	Newspaper
Udbodhana	Swami Vivekananda	1899	Magazine
Prabuddha Bharata	P. Aiyasami	1896	English monthly Journal
Sudharak	Gopal Ganesh Agarkar	1888	Newspaper
Kesari Newspaper	B.G. Tilak	1881	Marathi Newspaper
Hindu	Vir Raghavacharya and G.S. Aiyar	1878	Newspaper
Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq	Sir Syed Ahmed Khan	1871	Journal
Amrita Bazar Patrika	Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh	1868	Newspaper
Indian Mirror Newspaper	Devendra Nath Tagore	1862	Newspaper
Som Prakesh	Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar	1858	Weekly Newspaper
Rast Goftar	Dadabhai Naoroji	1854	Gujarati Newspaper
Hindoo Patriot	Madhusudan Ray	1853	English weekly
Mirat-ul-Akbar	Raja Ram Mohan Roy	1822	Persian language journal
Samvad Kaumudi	Raja Ram Mohan Roy	1819	Bengali weekly newspaper
Bengal Gazette	James Augustus Hicky	1780	English newspaper

Freedom Fighters and their Newspapers

Indian Freedom Fighters had a significant role in awakening the masses to raise their voice against British rule in India. In this struggle, one of the easiest ways to share their ideas with the groups was through newspapers and journals. They started newspapers to support the Indian freedom Struggle for independence. The important newspapers during the freedom struggle published by freedom fighters were as follows-

New India Newspaper

New India Newspaper had two publications. The Weekly was started by Bipin Chandra Pal, while Annie Basant started New India (Daily). The newspaper spread patriotic feelings among Indians. It was similar to Kesari and Harijan, started by Tilak and Gandhi.

Indian Opinion Newspaper

Mahatma Gandhi established the Indian Opinion Newspaper as an essential tool for Gandhi’s political movement. The Newspaper existed from 1904 till 1915. The principal aim of publishing the Newspaper was to fight the racial discrimination the Britishers faced from the Indian living in South Africa.

Hindustan Times

Hindustan Times was launched by Madan Mohan Malaviya in 1936 and was published by Hindustan Media Ventures Limited. This Newspaper was based in Delhi and is still published in India under the entity control of the KK Birla family.

Indian Mirror Newspaper

After the revolt of 1857, people started to look for freedom with a patriotic approach throughout the country. They became rebellious and were ready to sacrifice their life for freedom. Seeing the enthusiasm among people (particularly in Bengal), Devendra Nath Tagore started the Indian Mirror newspaper in the English language in Calcutta, West Bengal, in 1862. Manmohan Ghosh was one of the critical editors of the Newspaper in the beginning. Later, he was joined by Pratap Mazumdar. Along with other leaders, Narendra Nath Sen contributed significantly to the Indian Mirror newspaper.

Mahatma Gandhi Newspaper List

Soon after Gandhi returned to India, he was involved in a peaceful and non-violent protest against the British Government. His ideas influenced several freedom fighters, and they joined his journey towards freedom of the country. However, to reach out to the masses, he started four newspapers. Here is the list of newspapers started by Mahatma Gandhi:

Indian Opinion
Young India
Nav Jeevan
Harijan

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Early Regulations on Press in India

The acts for the freedom of the press in India before independence include the following:

Censorship of Press Act, 1799 – This act was enacted by Lord Wellesley and anticipated France’s invasion of India. This act imposed restrictions on the wartime press.
Licensing Regulations, 1823 – These regulations were passed by John Adams. After these regulations, Mirat-ul-Akbar, the publication of Rammohan Roy, had to stop.
Metcalfe or Press Act of 1835 – This act repealed the obnoxious 1823 ordinance.
Licensing Act, 1857 – The licensing act imposed licensing restrictions.
Registration Act, 1867 – This act was the regulatory and non-restrictive act that replaced Metcalfe’s Act of 1835. According to this act, every Newspaper needs to print the publisher’s and printer’s name along with the place of publication.
The Vernacular Press Act – The Vernacular Press Act was designed to control the vernacular press and its repressive writings.
Newspaper (Incitement to Offences) Act, 1908 – This act was introduced against Extremist Nationalist activity.
Indian Press Act, 1910 – The act brought back the worst features of the Vernacular Press Act.

Role of Newspapers in Freedom Struggle

Many philosophers have defined the role of newspapers in the freedom struggle, including Mahatama Gandhi. Newspapers played an important role for the following reasons:

They helped in spreading awareness about British cruelties to the masses.
The ideas of patriotism, nationalism, need and demand for independent India were communicated to the Indian people through these newspapers.
The inspiring stories about many freedom fighters were shared through the newspapers during freedom struggle.
In British India, the voices of the Indian masses were unheard and ignored, but through newspapers, people tended to spread nationalist messages to their community freely.