ID | 162469 |
Title Proper | Dissenting against the Defence of India Rules |
Other Title Information | Emergency Regulations and the Space of Extreme Government Action |
Language | ENG |
Author | Rook-Koepsel, Emily |
Summary / Abstract (Note) | Indian democracy has been plagued by a long history of ‘rules’ and ‘acts’, defined broadly as assigning to the state the power to impose order, but without clear guidelines as to their use. Understanding agitations against these rules and acts is helpful in seeing a line of challenge to state authority from the position of democracy. This paper will describe the agitations by the All India Newspaper Editors’ Conference (AINEC) against Article 41 of the Defence of India Rules (1939), which focused on the government's ability to censor, ban and fine newspapers. AINEC's fight made visible the effect of capricious and unpredictable government actions on actors outside the elite. In addition, the shifts in censorship brought about by the Defence of India Rules highlighted how groups, ideas or writing could shift from being regarded as ‘responsible’ and credible to ‘irresponsible’ and dangerous on the basis of state decisions. |
`In' analytical Note | South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies Vol. 41, No.3; Sep 2018: p.642-657 |
Journal Source | South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 2018-09 41, 3 |
Key Words | National Security ; Democracy ; Press Freedom ; Communal Violence ; Dissent ; Indian Constitution ; All India Newspaper Editors’ Conference ; Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act ; 1958 (AFSPA) ; Defence of India Rules ; Executive Cction |