By Arif Masoodi
In a bid to reach to the people, the government devised methods from ancient past. Finding itself apart from the people the government in an effort to come close to the masses, began to convey them about the government policies and activities via varied means. In this respect the name of Ashoka is praiseworthy who by virtue of his edicts and pillars transmitted the messages to the people. Whatever he used to do he transmitted that down via all these means. The religious issues were also conveyed to the people by virtue of pillars however, It is difficult to say when the journalism in the modern sense of the term started. But it is a fact that it initially started in the region of Deccan. Most of the literature had been lost owing to conflicts among the different antagonistic groups. . In view of the loss of literature one does not precisely know what was the condition of journalism during their age. Due to the lack of evidences we can’t conclusively say whether journalism existed there or not. During the time of Mughals written documents were in circulation which can be equated with the modern day newspapers. The writers had freedom to express their opinion and these documents served as a source of information to the rulers. In these newspapers day to day problems and other information was gathered and sent to the emperor for his cognizance. The Durbar of the Mughals remained conversant with the conditions prevailing in the countryside through these newspapers. Besides these, there were other types of newspapers which were less prestigious and were published by the merchants of the age. All said and done the fact remains the real beginning of newspapers in the modern sense of journalism can be traced from the extant records of the British Indian Empire.
It is a fact that the true sense of journalism in India started with the penetration of East India Company. The company came as a trading one but gradually established its control over the Indian soil because of the weak native rulers. However, the company itself had a number of loopholes which provided context for the emergence of journalism in India. Due to the loopholes of the company a number of officials deserted their work because they were not satisfied with the work of the company. William Bolts was one among the angry officials of the company. In angriness he authored “Consideration of Indian Affairs” in 1868. He wrote the various facets of the history of the company in this book and through his writings he tried to expose the misdeeds of the company in India. This formed the very basis of journalism in India.
Twelve years after the publication of the “Consideration of India Affairs” Sir William James Hicky appeared on the scene and published the first English newspaper of India. The newspaper was named as “Bengal Gazette or Calcutta Journal Advertiser”. It was published on 29January 1780 from Calcutta. The second important newspaper of India was “India Gazette” which was published in November 1780. It was a weekly newspaper. It was published in response to the newspaper of James Hicky. It was an official newspaper under the ownership of B. Messink and Peter Reed. It became a daily newspaper after three years of its publication.
The third newspaper of India was “Calcutta Gazette” which was published from Calcutta. It started in 1789.Its editor was Francis Gladwin. It served as a mouth piece for the government. Thus it was an important newspaper for various other reasons particularly it gave space to the Persian language in one of its columns for the first time in the history of the journalism. The day today information was disseminated to the people through this newspaper. After the publication of this newspaper the journalism of India progressed and a number of newspapers were published subsequently.
Emergence of Urdu Journalism in India
The scholars are not unanimous about the publication of the first Urdu newspaper of India. Different scholars have given different opinions with regard to the publication of the first Urdu newspaper of the country. At the outset it was believed that “Delhi newspaper” was the first Urdu newspaper of India but the latest inquiry has proved that “Jam Jaha Numa” of Calcutta is the first Urdu newspaper of the country. It is noteworthy that it was converted into a Farsi newspaper after some time. It started on 2nd March 1822, and it comprised four pages. The day to day information was published in this newspaper. Poetry was also given space in this newspaper. This newspaper could not last for long and it was stopped in 1828, due to the restrictions and the Censorship on the part of government.
The second important Urdu newspaper of India was “Delhi Akhbar”. It was the first newspaper of north India. It was started by Moulvi Mohd Bakir in 1837. After some time, its name was changed to “Delhi UrduAkhbar”. It was stopped after twenty years of its publication in 1857 when Moulvi Mohd Bakir died. The publication of these two Urdu newspapers laid the foundation of Urdu newspapers in India.
The second important centre of Urdu journalism followed by Delhi was Lahore. Its publications had a lot of bearing on the people of Kashmir and it affected the minds of the people of Kashmir in one or the other way. In Lahore a number of Kashmir’s also published newspapers, considering the fact that the publication of newspapers was banned in the valley. The important newspapers which were published by Kashmir’s there included, “Shumla Aqbar” which was published under the patronage of Sheikh Mohd Abdullah. The language of this newspaper was Urdu and it was run by Kashmiris from there for highlighting the various issues of Kashmir. The second newspaper of the line was “Quinoor” which was edited by Munshi Her Singh Roy. It was started on 14 january 1880. It was twice published in a week. It lasted for fifty-five years. After few days of its publication another newspaper “DunyaDhar” was started. Its editor was Shah Sawar-Ud-Din and its owner was Malik Faqur-Ud-Din. After the publication of this newspaper the publication of newspapers continued till date.
Evolution of journalism in Jammu and Kashmir.
Journalism played an important role for developing Urdu language in Kashmir. It infused interest among the masses for learning this language. Besides contributing to the growth of Urdu language in the valley, it provides us valuable information with regard to the history of the Dogra period. It also awakened the people of Kashmir from the deep slumber and proved beneficial for the freedom struggle of Kashmir. The journalism started in Kashmir after it had almost completed one and a half century in India and had reached to its zenith.
In every state of India, the publication of newspapers was permitted except Kashmir, in Kashmir the case was different and the publication of newspapers was banned by the then rulers considering the fact that the newspapers were considered to be a source of sedition. It was the only state in which the publication of newspapers was not permitted by the autocratic Dogra rulers. The Dogra rulers often pretended that the newspapers undermine the authority of Maharaja and banned the publication of newspapers in the valley for a long time. On the other hand the Kashmiris who were unaware about their rights accepted whatever treatment was meted out to them. In the twentieth century the world and the neighboring states of Kashmir witnessed a change, new discoveries and inventions changed the entire world and these changes put their impact on the lives of the people of Kashmir. The newspapers were the very basis of this new system. The newspapers played an important role in propagating the day today happenings of the period. These newspapers also reached in the valley through different means and helped in acquainting the people of Kashmir about their rights.
……to be continued
Arif Masoodi can be mailed at arifmasoodi9@gmail.com
