Indian Press (Emergency Powers) Act 1931
Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Indian Press (Emergency Powers) Act was a colonial law passed in 1931, during the Civil Disobedience Movement. It gave provincial governments sweeping powers against the press. They could demand securities, which are money deposits that could be taken away, and they could suppress papers that supported the movement. In 1932 its scope was widened to cover any writing that weakened government authority.
Example
Nationalist papers that reported the Salt Satyagraha protests and boycotts were asked to pay securities. Those that refused or kept writing had their securities forfeited, which means seized, or were forced to close. It was the same pattern of repression and protest that the earlier Vernacular Press Act (1878) had set off.
Don't confuse with
- Indian Press Act 1910: an earlier security law from the Swadeshi period, repealed in 1922. The 1931 Act was an emergency law aimed at Civil Disobedience.
Related concepts
- Censorship of Press Act 1799
- Licensing Regulations 1823
- Press Act of 1835
- Licensing Act 1857
- Hindu Patriot
- Som Prakash
- Press and Registration of Books Act 1867
- Amrita Bazar Patrika
- Vernacular Press Act
- The Hindu