cover image: Parliamentary Debates  Parliament of India  Friday  14th September  1951  Part II - Proceedings other than Questions and Answers  Official Report

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Parliamentary Debates Parliament of India Friday 14th September 1951 Part II - Proceedings other than Questions and Answers Official Report

1951

I was submitting that to evaluate properly the merits of a Bill, it is necessary to consider the circumstances in which it is brought before the House and also the background of the Bill. [...] The reasons given even then were that in the country the atmosphere was such that the Press could not be controlled and there was no escape from the pro- visions of Act of 1910 which were subsequently repealed in the Press Emergency Powers Act of 1931. [...] The original terms were: to examine and report to the Government all laws regulating the Press in the free countries of the world and the other term was to review the Press laws of India with a view to examine if they are in accord with the Fundamental Rights formulated by the Constituent Assembly of India. [...] It was quite neces- sary to pass that amendment; though I do not agree, and I never agreed, to the \vide terms in which power was taken, all the same it was absolutely necessary that power should have been given to Government to control the public and the Press in so far as a vacuum was created by the rulings of the Supreme Court and the High Courts. [...] Unless that is said, 1 am very sorry to say that with the premises which we have been given we can only come to the conclusion that as a matter of fact the Press in this country is as good or as bad as the Press in any other country of the world and there is no reason why we should have a system which even the Englishmen and the foreigners did not want to foist on this country except for temporary
government politics public policy
Pages
35
Published in
India
SARF Document ID
sarf.100013
Segment Pages Author Actions
Frontmatter
i-2529 unknown view
Part C States (Miscellaneous Laws) Repealing Bill
2529-2529 unknown view
Press (Incitement to Crime) Bill
2529-2559 unknown view
Backmatter
i-i unknown view