INDIAN NEWSPAPER REPORTS, c1868-1942

from the British Library, London
Part 2: Bengal, 1904-1916

Introduction

The partition of Bengal in 1905 was designed to improve the administrative efficiency of a huge and populous region, where the Bengali Hindu intelligentsia exerted considerable influence on local and national politics. It was an
ill-conceived and poorly implemented measure which outraged Bengalis. In failing to consult Indian public opinion, this government action appeared to be another instance of the British resolve to ‘divide and rule’. Widespread agitation ensued in the streets and in the press as can be seen from the evidence reproduced in this collection.

The resulting Congress-led boycottt of British goods was so successful that it unleashed a new wave of anti-British feeling and an associated cycle of violence, terrorism and repression. The British response was a series of constitutional reforms in 1909 to try to mitigate the situation. The Muslim League founded in 1906 had the twin aims of promoting loyalty to the British and advancing Muslim political rights in India. The number of elective officers reserved for Muslims was greatly increased by the India Councils Act of 1909.

All these important changes, the political agitation and disturbances are all well recorded in the Indian Newspaper Reports. In addition one can find reaction to the following:

• King George V’s visit for a durbar in 1911 when he announced the reversal of
the partition of Bengal
• The transfer of the capital from Calcutta to New Delhi
• The outbreak of the First World War and an outpouring of loyalty and goodwill towards Britain
• High casualty rates in the war, inflation, heavier taxation, the influenza epidemic and disruption of trade after 1914

Specialist new digests and reports from the Indian-run and Anglo-Indian press provide an excellent window on:

• The growth of political awareness manifested in the emergence of Indian leadership at national and provincial levels and a vibrant Indian public opinion
• The transformation of the Congress into a more representative body
• The rise of the Muslim League
• War, reforms and further agitation

Content

The Bengal newspaper reports cover 1874-1916. Part 1 contains 1874-1903 with Part 2 covering the years 1904-1916. The abstracts and extracts contained in the reports will provide scholars with an invaluable insight into Indian social and political events, the conditions of the Indian and British population, criticisms of the British government and the development of nationalist feelings.

The reports contain a wealth of information on subjects as diverse as:

• outrages by gundes at Calcutta
• complaints against India Office civil servants
• the water supply and sanitation
• the Indian Budget
• state of the crops
• fever in Jaipur
• the Kabul mission
• gambling
• proposed new colleges
• education of native princes by Europeans
• Lord Curzon and the Tibetan expedition
• bribery and corruption
• inefficiency of the Calcutta police
• outbreaks of plague
• the improvement of cottage industry
• observations on the Muharram disturbances at Bombay

The following short extracts, taken from the reports on newspapers in English owned by Indians, provide only an idea of the depth and variety of information to be found in the reports:

Week ending 30th July 1904:

“’The Indian Mirror’ writes that Lord Curzon’s repressive administration has imbued the people with a spirit of self-reliance, as they now know that they have nothing to hope for from the Government. Thus the blundering of a youthful, erratic Viceroy has done much to jeopardise the State by alienating the masses, who have ceased to have any confidence in their foreign rulers. This, in the opinion of the ‘Mirror’, is the saddest thing that can befall a country, but it is the consequence of having a Viceroy who thinks imperially and seldom acts wisely. No foreign government, continues the journal, can successfully rule an alien race without having full knowledge of its feelings, wishes, and necessities….”
Navasakti, Calcutta, week ending 2nd November 1907:

“…. If the oppressions of the English had really made the people afraid, or lessened their desire for freedom, how is it that ‘belati’ goods had absolutely no sale during the Pujas? The acts of oppression, instead of lessening, have increased the yearning after freedom a hundredfold….”

Indian Newspaper Reports constitute an important series to be found in the Record Department Papers of the Oriental and India Office Collections at the British Library. The reports consist of abstracts taken from Indian newspapers for the following areas of India: Bengal, the North Western Provinces, Madras, Bombay, Punjab, Sind, Burma and Bihar and Orissa.

The reports were completed weekly and consist of typewritten abstracts of the contents of Indian newspapers with some extracts, translated by an official translator whose name is given at the end of the week’s report. Each weekly report gives a list of both the Indian language newspapers and English language newspapers owned by Indians examined, with their place of publication, whether issued weekly or monthly, the number of subscribers and the date of the issues examined. Some reports give the names of the editors of the newspapers. An extremely wide variety of newspapers was looked at weekly, averaging around 50 every week, ensuring that a wide spectrum of ideas, views and politics was addressed. Some reports list the languages of the newspapers, for example Bengali, English and Bengali, English and Urdu, Bengali and Hindi, Hindi and Persian.

Examples of newspapers examined in Part 2 are:

• Dharma – o - Karma
• Sign Board
• Mahima
• Nava Yug
• Rangalaya
• Samay
• Dainik
• Healing Balm Telegram
• Bharat Mittra
• Samvad Vahika
• Dacca Gazette
• The Indian Mirror
• Amrita Bazar Patrika
• The Bengalee
• The Weekly Chronicle
• New India
• The India Nation

The abstracts contained in the reports are divided into the following sections:

I Foreign Politics
II Home Administration
a) Police
b) Working of the Courts
c) Jails
d) Education
e) Local Self-Government and Municipal Administration
f) Questions affecting the land
g) Railways and Communications, including canals and irrigation
h) General (including a wide range of topics)
III Legislative
IV Native States
V Prospects of the Crops and Condition of the People
VI Miscellaneous