Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
'Liberty of speech … liberty of the press … freedom of association. The Government of India is now seeking to crush the three powerful vehicles of expressing and cultivating public opinion. The fight for Swaraj, for Khilafat … means a fight for this threatened freedom before all else …'
— Mahatma Gandhi, 1922
(i) Why does Gandhi describe the press as a 'vehicle of expressing and cultivating public opinion'? (1 mark)
(ii) What specific measures had the colonial government used before 1922 to restrict the freedom of the press in India? Name any two. (1 mark)
(iii) How did nationalist newspapers contribute to the freedom struggle despite facing colonial repression? Explain with reference to at least one specific example. (2 marks)
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-26 15:01 · grounding rag
Model Answer
(i) Gandhi calls the press a 'vehicle' because it circulates ideas and opinions widely among the public, shaping and spreading nationalist thought to a large audience, thereby building political consciousness against colonial rule.
(ii) Two measures used by the colonial government to restrict press freedom:
- Vernacular Press Act, 1878 — gave the government power to censor reports and seize printing machinery of vernacular newspapers.
- Defence of India Rules (World War I) — required 22 newspapers to furnish securities; 18 shut down rather than comply.
(iii) Despite repression, nationalist newspapers reported on colonial misrule and encouraged resistance. For example, Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote with sympathy about the deported Punjab revolutionaries in his newspaper Kesari (1907). The colonial government imprisoned him in 1908, which in turn sparked widespread protests across India, showing how the press both inspired and mobilised nationalist sentiment.
Source: Print Culture and the Modern World, Chapter 5 (Print and Censorship section)
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Explanation
- (i) is 1 mark — one crisp line linking press → spread of ideas → public opinion.
- (ii) is 1 mark — name two specific acts/measures; just naming them is sufficient.
- (iii) is 2 marks — needs a general point about nationalist press + one specific example (Tilak/Kesari is the textbook example). Examiners look for the named newspaper and consequence (imprisonment → protests).
- Always ground answers in the source passage; the Tilak/Kesari example is explicitly mentioned in the chapter and is the expected reference.