Q50. Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the founder of which newspaper or newspapers?
[MP Police Constable, memory-based (30 October 2025)]
(A) Maratha and Kesari
(B) English weekly
(C) Amrita Bazar Patrika
(D) Marathi weekly
Answer: (A) Maratha and Kesari
Explanation: Tilak launched Kesari in Marathi and Mahratta in English in 1881. Together they communicated his political views to different linguistic audiences. They were important platforms for advocacy of swaraj, mass mobilization and criticism of colonial administration.
Q49. Which newspaper was edited by Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi?
[OSSSC Combined Recruitment Examination (14 October 2025)]
(A) Hindustan
(B) Pratap
(C) Hitavada
(D) Aaj
Answer: (B) Pratap
Explanation: Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi founded and edited the Hindi newspaper Pratap in Kanpur. It criticized injustice, championed workers and peasants, and promoted anti-colonial nationalism. Vidyarthi is also remembered for his efforts to resist communal violence.
Q48. Who published the first newspaper in India?
[West Bengal Police SI (12 October 2025)]
(A) James Augustus Hicky
(B) Harish Chandra Mukherjee
(C) Dinabandhu Mitra
(D) Hem Chandra Kar
Answer: (A) James Augustus Hicky
Explanation: James Augustus Hicky began publishing the Bengal Gazette in Calcutta in January 1780. The paper challenged colonial officials and influential merchants, drawing lawsuits and repression. It is generally recognized as the first printed newspaper published in India.
Q47. Which newspaper began publication in 1919?
[OSSSC Combined Recruitment Examination (10 October 2025)]
(A) Dainik Asha
(B) Kirti
(C) Daily Milap
(D) The Samaja
Answer: (D) The Samaja
Explanation: The Samaja was started in 1919 by Gopabandhu Das in Odisha. It contributed to public education, social reform and political awareness during colonial rule. Through Odia journalism, it connected regional concerns with the broader Indian national movement.
Q46. Consider statements about Ghadar: (1) It arose in San Francisco in 1913; (2) Sohan Singh Bhakna was a founder; (3) its name came from a revolutionary weekly. Which are correct?
[UPSC CDS II (14 September 2025)]
(A) 1 only
(B) 2 only
(C) 2 and 3 only
(D) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (D) 1, 2 and 3
Explanation: The Ghadar movement developed among Indian expatriates in North America in 1913, with Sohan Singh Bhakna as a key founder. The newspaper Ghadar gave the movement its popular name and openly called for the overthrow of colonial rule.
Q45. Arrange Indian Opinion, The Indian Sociologist, Abhyudaya, The Leader and Young India in chronological order of their beginnings.
[UGC NET History (28 June 2025, Shift 1)]
(A) Indian Opinion, Young India, Abhyudaya, The Indian Sociologist, The Leader
(B) Indian Opinion, The Indian Sociologist, Abhyudaya, The Leader, Young India
(C) Indian Opinion, Abhyudaya, The Indian Sociologist, The Leader, Young India
(D) The Indian Sociologist, Indian Opinion, Abhyudaya, The Leader, Young India
Answer: (B) Indian Opinion, The Indian Sociologist, Abhyudaya, The Leader, Young India
Explanation: Indian Opinion began in 1903; The Indian Sociologist in 1905; Abhyudaya in 1907; and The Leader in 1909. Young India became associated with Gandhi later. The sequence traces several strands of overseas and domestic nationalist journalism.
Q44. In which language was Tilak’s newspaper Mahratta published?
[RRB NTPC Graduate CBT-I (13 June 2025, Shift 3)]
(A) Bengali
(B) Hindi
(C) English
(D) Marathi
Answer: (C) English
Explanation: Mahratta was Tilak’s English-language weekly, launched alongside the Marathi Kesari in 1881. Using two languages allowed his political arguments to reach both local Marathi readers and an English-educated audience in India and abroad.
Q43. Who was known as the Liberator of the Indian Press?
[CUET PG History (28 March 2025)]
(A) Thomas Babington Macaulay
(B) Lord William Bentinck
(C) John Adam
(D) Charles Metcalfe
Answer: (D) Charles Metcalfe
Explanation: Charles Metcalfe’s Press Act of 1835 liberalized the colonial publishing environment by removing licensing rules. Indian newspapers expanded during the subsequent period. The epithet Liberator of the Indian Press refers to this measure, not to complete freedom from later regulation.
Q42. Which enactment of 1878 was popularly known as the Gagging Act?
[RPF Constable, 2024 cycle (7 March 2025)]
(A) Government of India Act, 1858
(B) Government of India Act, 1919
(C) Regulating Act, 1773
(D) Vernacular Press Act, 1878
Answer: (D) Vernacular Press Act, 1878
Explanation: The Vernacular Press Act of 1878 was nicknamed the Gagging Act because it restrained political expression in non-English newspapers. It was enacted under Lord Lytton and condemned by Indian nationalists as discriminatory. Lord Ripon repealed it in 1882.
Q41. In which year was the Indian Press Act passed?
[SSC GD Constable (20 February 2025)]
(A) 1911
(B) 1913
(C) 1912
(D) 1910
Answer: (D) 1910
Explanation: The Indian Press Act, 1910 gave colonial authorities wide powers to demand securities from publishers and seize publications judged objectionable. It was used against nationalist and revolutionary writing and further strengthened official supervision of political reporting.
