Modern Indian History
🔒 Log in to trackNewspapers, Journals & Books of the Freedom Era
🔒 Log in to trackNewspaper / journal → founder or editor
| Paper | Language | Person |
|---|---|---|
| Bengal Gazette (1780) | English | James Augustus Hicky — first newspaper in India |
| Sambad Kaumudi | Bengali | Raja Ram Mohan Roy |
| Kesari / Mahratta | Marathi / English | Bal Gangadhar Tilak |
| Indian Opinion | English, Gujarati & others | Gandhi (South Africa) |
| Young India, Navajivan, Harijan | English / Gujarati | Gandhi |
| Al-Hilal (1912) | Urdu | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad |
| Comrade | English | Mohammad Ali Jauhar |
| Bande Mataram | English | Aurobindo Ghosh (with Bipin Chandra Pal) |
| New India | English | Annie Besant |
| Mooknayak (1920) | Marathi | B.R. Ambedkar |
| National Herald (1938) | English | Jawaharlal Nehru |
Book → author
| Book | Author |
|---|---|
| Poverty and Un-British Rule in India | Dadabhai Naoroji (drain theory) |
| Anandamath (source of "Vande Mataram") | Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay |
| Gita Rahasya | Tilak (written in Mandalay jail) |
| Hind Swaraj (1909) | Mahatma Gandhi |
| The Discovery of India | Jawaharlal Nehru (Ahmednagar Fort jail) |
| Gulamgiri | Jyotirao Phule |
| Why I Am an Atheist | Bhagat Singh |
| Neel Darpan | Dinabandhu Mitra |
| Annihilation of Caste | B.R. Ambedkar |
Why the press mattered
The national movement ran on print. Newspapers created all-India opinion, spread boycott calls, and paid for it with prosecution. Know the paper, its editor and its language — that trio is the whole question bank.
Early national press
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the pioneer: Sambad Kaumudi (Bengali, 1821) and Mirat-ul-Akbar (Persian, 1822). Amrita Bazar Patrika (1868, the Ghosh brothers — Sisir Kumar and Motilal) began in Bengali; when the Vernacular Press Act (1878) gagged Indian-language papers, it converted itself into an English daily overnight. The Hindu (Madras, 1878) was founded by G. Subramania Iyer. Surendranath Banerjea edited Bengalee; Kesari (Marathi) and Mahratta (English), both 1881, were Tilak's platforms. The Vernacular Press Act (1878) — Lytton's 'Gagging Act' — was repealed by Ripon in 1882; earlier, Metcalfe (1835) had earned the title 'liberator of the Indian press'.
Papers of the freedom struggle
Gandhi: Young India (English) and Navajivan (Gujarati) during NCM; Harijan (1933) for the anti-untouchability work. Annie Besant: New India and Commonweal. Maulana Azad: Urdu Al-Hilal (1912) and Al-Balagh. Muhammad Ali (of the Ali brothers): Comrade. Aurobindo Ghosh: Bande Mataram; Bipin Chandra Pal worked on it too. Sir Syed's Tahdhib-ul-Akhlaq carried the Aligarh message.
The books to memorise
| Book | Author |
|---|---|
| Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901) | Dadabhai Naoroji |
| Economic History of India | R.C. Dutt |
| Hind Swaraj (1909) | Gandhi |
| My Experiments with Truth (autobiography, 1927) | Gandhi |
| Geeta Rahasya (in Mandalay jail) | Tilak |
| Ghulamgiri (1873) | Jyotiba Phule |
| Annihilation of Caste (1936) | B.R. Ambedkar |
| The Indian Struggle (1935) | Subhas Chandra Bose |
| Toward Freedom (autobiography, 1936) | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Glimpses of World History (1934) | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Discovery of India (1946) | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| India Wins Freedom | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad |
| India Divided | Rajendra Prasad |
| Unhappy India (1928) | Lala Lajpat Rai |
Songs and symbols from print
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Anandamath (1882) gave the song Vande Mataram, first sung at the 1896 Calcutta Congress session by Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore's Amar Sonar Bangla was written during the 1905 Swadeshi agitation.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Newspaper ↔ editor/founder
'Who edited Kesari', 'New India was published by', match-the-column of papers and editors.
Tilak = Kesari + Mahratta; Besant = New India + Commonweal; Gandhi = Young India + Navajivan + Harijan.
Azad = Al-Hilal; Muhammad Ali = Comrade; S.N. Banerjea = Bengalee; Aurobindo = Bande Mataram.
Watch the near-pair: New India is Besant's paper — not Pal's, not Nehru's.
The newspaper New India, which carried the Home Rule campaign, was started by —
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Annie Besant — her other paper was Commonweal.
Book ↔ author
'Who wrote Discovery of India', 'Ghulamgiri is a work by', match-the-column of books and authors.
Gandhi = Hind Swaraj + My Experiments with Truth; Nehru = Toward Freedom + Glimpses + Discovery of India.
Economic pair: Naoroji (Poverty and Un-British Rule) vs R.C. Dutt (Economic History of India).
Azad = India Wins Freedom; Prasad = India Divided; Bose = The Indian Struggle; Ambedkar = Annihilation of Caste.
The book Discovery of India was written by —
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Jawaharlal Nehru, during his Ahmednagar prison years (1946).
Press laws: 1878 Act and press freedom
'Vernacular Press Act was passed by/repealed by', which paper changed language overnight, Metcalfe's title.
Vernacular Press Act, 1878 — Lord Lytton; repealed by Ripon, 1882.
Amrita Bazar Patrika turned into an English paper overnight to escape it.
Metcalfe (1835) = 'liberator of the Indian press'.
The Vernacular Press Act (1878) was repealed by —
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Lord Ripon, in 1882.
Gandhi's journals
'Harijan was started in', which paper during Non-Cooperation, language of Navajivan.
NCM years: Young India (English) and Navajivan (Gujarati).
Harijan (1933): English weekly for the anti-untouchability campaign; sister papers Harijan Bandhu (Gujarati), Harijan Sevak (Hindi).
Indian Opinion (1903) was Gandhi's South African paper.
Gandhi started the English weekly Harijan in —
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1933, for the removal of untouchability.
Anandamath, Vande Mataram and protest writings
Source of Vande Mataram, where it was first sung, Amar Sonar Bangla's origin, Unhappy India as a reply to Mother India.
Anandamath (1882) by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee contains Vande Mataram; first sung by Tagore at the 1896 Calcutta Congress.
Tagore's Amar Sonar Bangla (1905 Swadeshi) later became Bangladesh's anthem.
Lajpat Rai's Unhappy India (1928) answered Katherine Mayo's Mother India.
The song Vande Mataram first appeared in —
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Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Anandamath (1882).
Shortcuts that save time
Young India · Navajivan · Harijan (plus Indian Opinion from South Africa). Anything else in the options is someone else's paper.
Which of these was NOT edited by Gandhi — Young India, Harijan, Kesari, Navajivan?
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Kesari — Tilak's Marathi paper.
Tilak → Gita Rahasya in Mandalay; Nehru → Discovery of India in Ahmednagar Fort.
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Al-Hilal = Abul Kalam Azad; Comrade = Mohammad Ali Jauhar.
Anandamath is by Bankim Chandra; the anthem Jana Gana Mana is by Tagore.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
Roy: Sambad Kaumudi (Bengali) + Mirat-ul-Akbar (Persian).
Amrita Bazar Patrika: Ghosh brothers; turned English overnight after the 1878 Act.
Gandhi: Young India, Navajivan, Harijan (1933). Besant: New India, Commonweal. Azad: Al-Hilal.
Naoroji: Poverty and Un-British Rule; Dutt: Economic History; Bose: Indian Struggle.
Nehru: Toward Freedom, Glimpses, Discovery; Azad: India Wins Freedom.
Practice: 14 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 10 questions
Suggested time 4 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.