Competing Visions of Empire in the Colonial Built Environment: Sir Bradford Leslie and the Building of New Delhi

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Financial Resources ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Precise Location ◽  
British Rule ◽  
The Press ◽  
Human Material ◽  
New City ◽  
The Government ◽  
A Site ◽  
Building Project

In 1911, the Government of India transferred the imperial seat of government from Calcutta to Delhi. The decision initiated an ambitious colonial building project that consumed massive human, material, and financial resources for the next two decades. The new city was meant to be not just a site of government but also a symbol of a new direction in British rule. As such, the transfer and building of a new capital caused tremendous debate in parliament, in the press, and in the worlds of art and finance. This paper examines one of these debates: the precise location of the new capital in the Delhi area. When news reached London that the Government of India planned to build the new capital in a largely rural area with little connection to Delhi's existing European community, Sir Bradford Leslie, an eminent railway engineer with long experience in India, prepared a town plan that placed the capital back within Delhi's European civil lines. His plan, the controversy it created, and its eventual rejection by the Government of India highlighted arguments over the meaning of British rule in India and who should benefit from it.

Sovereignty, City, and the People

2020 ◽  
pp. 54-98
Author(s):  
Abhishek Kaicker
Keyword(s):  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
The People ◽  
Imperial Power ◽  
New City ◽  
A Site ◽  
Own Name ◽  
The City

In 1638 the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan embarked on his most ambitious architectural project: the building of a new Delhi in his own name. Beginning with a discussion of the development of a distinctly Mughal discourse of sovereignty centered on an ideal of the ruler’s heaven-granted fortune to rule (daulat), this chapter shows how the new city of Shahjahanabad was an enunciation of the discourse of sovereignty in bricks and mortar. A site of imperial power, Islamic piety, commercial prosperity, and urbane pleasure, the city was built to mediate an idealized relation between the king and the people. The second part of this chapter traces the unintended consequences of this act: the growth of a prosperous city, in which the forces of commerce caused the rise of new elites and the growth of a large and unruly underclass.

A City With a View: The Afforestation of the Delhi Ridge, 1883–1913

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 543-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL MANN ◽  
SAMIKSHA SEHRAWAT
Keyword(s):  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Capital City ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
British Government ◽  
British Rule ◽  
Strategic Location ◽  
The Government ◽  
The City ◽  
Landscape Gardening

AbstractDespite the contemporary importance of the Ridge forest to the city of Delhi as its most important ‘green lung’, the concept of urban forestry has been explored neither by urban historians studying Delhi nor by environmental historians. This article places the colonial efforts to plant a forest on the Delhi Ridge from 1883 to 1913 within the context of the gradual deforestation of the countryside around Delhi and the local colonial administration's preoccupation with encouraging arboriculture. This project of colonial forestry prioritized the needs of the white colonizers living in Delhi, while coming into conflict repeatedly with indigenous peasants. With the decision to transfer the capital to Delhi in 1911, the afforestation of the Delhi Ridge received a further stimulus. Town planners' visions of a building the capital city of New Delhi were meant to assert the grandeur of British rule through imposing buildings, with the permanence of the British in India being emphasised by the strategic location of the ruins of earlier empires within the city. The principles of English landscape gardening inspired the planning of New Delhi, with the afforestation of the Delhi Ridge being undertaken to provide a verdant backdrop for—the Government House and the Secretariat—the administrative centre of British government in India. Imperial notions of landscaping, which were central to the afforestation of the Delhi Ridge epitomised colonial rule and marginalized Indians.

How to Tell the Truth without Outraging the Press?

MedienJournal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Li Xiguang
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Stories ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Chinese News Media

The commercialization of meclia in China has cultivated a new journalism business model characterized with scandalization, sensationalization, exaggeration, oversimplification, highly opinionated news stories, one-sidedly reporting, fabrication and hate reporting, which have clone more harm than good to the public affairs. Today the Chinese journalists are more prey to the manipu/ation of the emotions of the audiences than being a faithful messenger for the public. Une/er such a media environment, in case of news events, particularly, during crisis, it is not the media being scared by the government. but the media itself is scaring the government into silence. The Chinese news media have grown so negative and so cynica/ that it has produced growing popular clistrust of the government and the government officials. Entering a freer but fearful commercially mediated society, the Chinese government is totally tmprepared in engaging the Chinese press effectively and has lost its ability for setting public agenda and shaping public opinions. 

The Arthur Crawford Scandal

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Metelits
Keyword(s):  
Retirement Age ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Government Service ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
High Court ◽  
Secretary Of State ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Government ◽  
To Receive

The Arthur Crawford Scandal explores how nineteenth century Bombay tried a British official for corruption. The presidency government persuaded Indians, government officials, to testify against the very person who controlled their career by offering immunity from legal action and career punishment. A criminal conviction of Crawford’s henchman established the modus operandi of a bribery network. Subsequent efforts to intimidate Indian witnesses led to litigation at the high court level, resulting in a political pressure campaign in London based on biased press reports from India. These reports evoked questions in the House of Commons; questions became demands that Indians witnesses against Crawford be fired from government service. The secretary of state for India and the Bombay government negotiated about the fate of the Indian witnesses. At first, the secretary of state accepted the Bombay government’s proposals. But the press campaign against the Indian witnesses eventually led him to order the Government of India, in consultation with the Government of Bombay, to pass a law ordering those officials who paid Crawford willingly, to be fired. Those whom the Bombay government determined to be extorted were not to be fired. Both groups retained immunity from further actions at law. Thus, Bombay won a victory that almost saved its original guarantee of immunity: those who were fired were to receive their salary (along with periodic step increases) until they reached retirement age, at which time they would receive a pension. However, this ‘solution’ did little to overcome the stigma and suffering of the fired officials.

The African Press in Kenya, 1945–1952

1980 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fay Gadsden
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
African Union ◽  
Direct Role ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Social Reforms ◽  
The Press ◽  
Grassroots Level ◽  
The Government ◽  
Short Time

This paper discusses the African press in Kenya in the years between 1945 and 1952. The growth of an extensive vernacular press was caused by the political frustrations suffered by Kenya's Africans and the political, social and ethnic divisions which separated them. The press can be divided into three major categories: moderate nationalist, regional vernacular and populist newspapers. The moderate nationalist newspapers were edited by members of the educated elite who campaigned for constitutional change and social reforms. The regional vernacular papers were concerned more with local than national issues. The populist press was edited by semi-educated men active in politics at the grassroots level who came to reject the moderate leadership. All these papers publicized the activities of the Kenya African Union and demanded an improvement in the political and social position of Africans in Kenya. But they also expressed the ethnic, political and social hostilities which divided their editors. The decline of moderate leadership was reflected in the closure of their newspapers. The radicals who seized power in K.A.U. in 1951 were supported by the populist press and began new newspapers in 1951 and 1952.Some of the African newspapers achieved quite large circulations, were distributed by agents throughout the towns of Kenya and attracted some advertising revenue. But they all suffered from lack of money and found it difficult to find and pay a printer, and they suffered also from the lack of experience of their editors. Many newspapers lasted only a short time. But throughout these years there were always a number of newspapers published. These were widely read and were politically influential. The populist press played a direct role in stimulating militant resistance. Government attempts to curb the African press and to replace it with government newspapers were not successful. Only in 1952 when a State of Emergency had been imposed and the government had assumed powers to refuse printing licences and to suppress newspapers could the African press be silenced.

Istanbul During the Balkan Wars (1912–1913)

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-164
Author(s):  
Baykal Erol
Keyword(s):  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
The Press ◽  
Major Outbreak ◽  
The Government ◽  
Flow Of Information ◽  
Potential Disaster

During the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) Istanbul suddenly found itself at the frontline of an unexpectedly disastrous conflict with its Balkan neighbours. One direct consequence of these wars, through troop mobilisation and refugee movement, was a major outbreak of cholera in the Ottoman capital. While entrepreneurs tried to turn this calamity into profit, by selling (useless) medication, the government tried to control the flow of information regarding the disease in order to better combat the epidemic and both parties used the press to achieve their goals. Despite the chaos of the war and the size of the outbreak, the acted efficiently and successfully prevented a potential disaster.

Morality and Monarchy in the Queen Caroline Affair

1991 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara L. Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Party Politics ◽  
British Society ◽  
British History ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Wide Spread ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The People ◽  
Moral Standards ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Government

The licentious career of Caroline of Brunswick, the most notorious queen in modern British history, was only exceeded by that of her husband, George IV, and the scandal that emerged when he attempted to obtain a divorce inspired one of the most unusual episodes of nineteenth-century British history. For six months the attention of the country was focused on the queen's trial; massive demonstrations in her support were familiar sights in London streets and news of the matter dominated the columns of the press. The popular outpouring of support for the queen often took the form of reviling the king and his ministers, and revolution seemed to be in the air, yet because no lasting political change resulted from this tumult, historians have tended to dismiss the affair as relatively unimportant. However, to view this interlude primarily in terms of party politics is to overlook the fact that the majority of the people who formed the massive crowds that so alarmed the government were neither radicals nor reformers, and many, if not most of them were unenfranchised. In order to better understand the implications of this unrest, it is important to identify those factors that inspired British men and women to openly denigrate their ruler and to heap opprobrium on the members of government in defense of a woman who, ironically, many believed to be guilty as charged. Such an examination makes it clear that this was an event of profound cultural significance and was in some respects the first wide-spread popular expression of the moral standards that have come to be labelled “Victorian.”Any attempt to judge “public opinion” is fraught with difficulty. Most of the surviving journals, memoirs, and collections of letters from this period were written by members of the gentry and aristocracy; most of the middle and working-class people who actively demonstrated in support of the queen or who signed the numerous addresses sent to her have tended to remain silent and anonymous. Newspaper and other written accounts of the affair were often extremely partisan, for British society was sharply divided on this issue. Political caricatures, however, overcome some of these difficulties.

Geopolitical Reflections of Sino-Indian Conflict and its Implication on Nepal’s Survival Strategy

Unity Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 81-96
Author(s):  
Gaurav Bhattarai
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Survival Strategy ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Press Releases ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Repeated Calls ◽  
The Press ◽  
India And China

Border disputes between China and India in June 2020 almost lead South Asian countries to take a side. But, Nepal, situated between India and China, has always expressed a stern belief in neutrality and non-alignment. Even though New Delhi doubted Nepal’s neutrality and non-alignment citing China’s growing footprints in Nepal, Kathmandu reckoned such suspicion as the result of a new map row between two countries connected by open borders. While Nepal’s repeated calls to diplomatically resolve India-Nepal border problems remained unheeded by New Delhi, it provided room for the ruling communist party in Nepal to reap geopolitical benefits out of the Sino-Indian dispute. But, interestingly, such geopolitical benefits are usually targeted in tempering Indian influence in Nepal, by getting closer with China. Apprehending the same, this study aims to assess the geopolitical implication of Sino-Indian conflict on the survival strategy of Nepal. To fulfill the same objectives, the Chinese perception of Nepal-India relations, and Indian perception of Sino-Nepal ties have been critically assessed in this study. This study is methodologically based on the information collected from the secondary sources. In order to critically evaluate the geopolitical expression of Sino-Indian conflict in Nepal, this study reviews India’s perception of Nepal-China relations, and China’s perception of Nepal-India relations. Also, the reports and the press releases of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, historical facts, treaties, government reports and decisions have been studied and analyzed. Media sources are also reviewed to understand the diverse narratives produced on the geopolitical reflection of Sino-Indian conflict. The themes that emerged from the reviews are thematically analyzed and interpreted, to discover that cultivating relations with one country at the expense of the other may be counterproductive to Nepal’s survival strategies.

The 1912 Duma Elections: The State, the Opposition and the Clergy

Orthodoxia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 111-124
Author(s):  
F. A. Gayda
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Press ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Church

This article deals with the political situation around the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Empire in 1912 (4th convocation). The main actors of the campaign were the government, local administration, liberal opposition and the clergy of the Orthodox Russian Church. After the 1905 revolution, the “official Church” found itself in a difficult situation. In particular, anti-Church criticism intensified sharply and was expressed now quite openly, both in the press and from the rostrum of the Duma. A consequence of these circumstances was that in this Duma campaign, for the first time in the history of Russian parliamentarianism, “administrative resources” were widely used. At the same time, the authorities failed to achieve their political objectives. The Russian clergy became actively involved in the election campaign. The government sought to use the conflict between the liberal majority in the third Duma and the clerical hierarchy. Duma members launched an active criticism of the Orthodox clergy, using Grigory Rasputin as an excuse. Even staunch conservatives spoke negatively about Rasputin. According to the results of the election campaign, the opposition was even more active in using the label “Rasputinians” against the Holy Synod and the Russian episcopate. Forty-seven persons of clerical rank were elected to the House — three fewer than in the previous Duma. As a result, the assembly of the clergy elected to the Duma decided not to form its own group, but to spread out among the factions. An active campaign in Parliament and the press not only created a certain public mood, but also provoked a political split and polarization within the clergy. The clergy themselves were generally inclined to blame the state authorities for the public isolation of the Church. The Duma election of 1912 seriously affected the attitude of the opposition and the public toward the bishopric after the February revolution of 1917.

Contending with Carcerality: Discursive Resistance to Elite Appropriation of Antiviolence Activism in Indian Media

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780122110260
Author(s):  
Chiara C. Packard
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Cultural Struggle ◽  
Carceral Feminism ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
A Site ◽  
The U.S

Research has revealed how antiviolence activism can become entangled with the state's punitive agenda, leading to what some have called “carceral feminism.” However, this scholarship focuses primarily on the U.S. context. Additionally, few studies examine the cultural battles about gender-based violence that emerge in television media, a site of cultural struggle and meaning making. This study conducts a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 46 Indian television panel broadcasts following a highly publicized rape in New Delhi in 2012. I find that elite state actors pursue punitive agendas, but feminists and other panelists engage in discursive resistance to this approach.

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