ABSTRACT:

MEDIA CENSORSHIP DURING EMERGENCY OF (1975):

For several decades, media outlets have been foreshadowed by the worldwide phenomena of
media censorship. One typical reason for censorship is the preservation of the status quo, but
the real goal is to keep the people in the dark about knowledge that might pose a challenge to
the government. The then-prime minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, believed that the verdict
against her publications by the Allahabad High Court incited the populace and produced an
inflamed atmosphere, which was one of the major reasons behind the declaration of a
national emergency in India in 1975. On June 26, 1975, the government planned to
restructure news agencies, disband the Press Council of India, and enact legislation to stop
“malicious” and “scurrilous” articles from appearing in periodicals and newspapers. It was
believed that an evaluation of the government policy pertaining to the distribution of
advertisements to newspapers and magazines was necessary. Thus, the country's sole
independent media outlet, the Press, was subject to restriction. The paper discusses the ethics
of the Indira government and the sterility of the fourth estate in India. This research paper
examines one of India's most prominent politicians, her contentious and severe declaration of
emergency, press censorship, and the media's reaction to it. The paper basically has two
chapters, the first chapter discusses about the background of emergency and the second
chapter discusses about “India’s or Indira’s emergency?” and the response of the print media
to emergency.

Keywords: National Emergency, Indira Gandhi, Status quo, Press censorship, response of
media, Allahabad High Court verdict