List of Important Newspapers & Journals during Indian Freedom Struggle

Newspapers and journals have played a critical role in the dissemination of information during the Indian struggle for freedom. It was widely used by the Indian freedom fighters as the mode of mass communication. Here is the full list of all important newspapers, journals, and weeklies that were published during the British Rule in India.

Major English Newspapers and Journals during the British Rule

Year	Name	Founder	Type
1780	Bengal Gazette	James Augustus Hicky	Newspaper
1853	Hindoo Patriot	Madhusudan Ray	Weekly newspaper
1862	Indian Mirror	Devendra Nath Tagore	Newspaper
1878	Hindu	Vir Raghavacharya and G.S. Aiyar	Newspaper
1896	Prabuddha Bharata	P. Aiyasami, B. R. Rajam Iyer, G. G. Narasimhacharya, and B. V. Kamesvara Iyer at the behest of Swami Vivekananda	Monthly journal
1905	Bande Mataram	Aurobindo Ghosh	Newspaper
1910	Bombay Chronicle	Firoze Shah Mehta	Newspaper
1911	Comrade	Maulana Mohammad Ali	Weekly newspaper
1914	New India	Annie Besant	Daily newspaper
1919	Independent	Motilal Nehru	Newspaper
1919	Young India	M. K Gandhi	Weekly journal
1924	Hindustan Times	Sunder Singh Lyallpuri	Daily newspaper
1932	Harijan	M. K Gandhi	Weekly journal
1936	Free Hindustan	Tarak Nath Das	Journal

Major Bengali Newspapers and Journals during the British Rule

1819	Samvad Kaumudi	Ram Mohan Roy	Weekly newspaper
1858	Som Prakash	Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar	Weekly newspaper
1899	Udbodhana	Swami Vivekananda	Magazine

Major Hindi Newspapers and Journals during the British Rule

1913	Pratap	Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi	Newspaper
1936	Hindustan Dainik	M.M. Malviya	Newspaper

Major Gujarati Newspapers and Journals during the British Rule

1854	Rast Goftar	Dadabhai Naoroji	Newspaper
1929	Nav Jeevan	M. K Gandhi	Weekly newspaper

Major Urdu/Persian Newspapers and Journals during the British Rule

1822	Mirat-ul-Akbar	Raja Ram Mohan Roy	Journal
1871	Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq	Sir Syed Ahmed Khan	Journal
1912	Al-Balagh	Abul Kalam Azad	Weekly newspaper
1912	Al-Hilal	Abul Kalam Azad	Weekly newspaper

Major Marathi Newspapers and Journals during the British Rule

1881	Kesari	B.G. Tilak	Newspaper
1920	Mook Nayak	B.R. Ambedkar	Weekly

Major Multilingual Newspapers and Journals during the British Rule

Year	Name	Founder	Newspaper/ Journal	Language
1868	Amrita Bazar Patrika	Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh	Newspaper	Bengali & English
1888	Sudharak	Gopal Ganesh Agarkar	Newspaper	Anglo-Marathi
1903	Indian Opinion	M. K Gandhi	Newspaper	Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil, and English.

Frequently Asked Questions: History of Press in India

Here are the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions regarding the history of the Indian Press.

Q1. Who brought the press to India?

It was the Portuguese who introduced the printing press to India.

Q2. Which was the first book to be published by the Portuguese in India?

Jesuits of Goa was the first book to be published in India by the Portuguese.

Q3. Who published the first newspaper in India?

James Augustus Hickey is the man behind India’s first published newspaper Bengal Gazette. The newspaper was first published in the year 1780.

Q4. What was the title of the first Indian newspaper?

It was known as Hicky’s Bengal Gazette or the Original Calcutta General Advertiser.

Q5. What was the objective of Licensing Regulations of 1823?

As per the Licensing Regulations of 1823, press without a license was a penal offense.

Q6. What was the Vernacular Press Act of 1878?

Vernacular Press Act was statutory legislation enacted during the British Rule (India) in the year 1878. The objective of the Act was to curtail the freedom of the vernacular press and thereby prevent the Indian language press from criticizing the British policies.