Under the new law, the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI), which had been in operation since colonial times, has been abolished, and a new body, the "Registrar of Press and Periodicals", has been established in its place.
Published Feb 04, 2025 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Feb 06, 2025 | 3:50 PM
A stack of newspapers. (iStock)
Synopsis: The Department of Posts has introduced new regulations that will significantly increase postal charges for small and medium newspapers in India, with rates rising up to seventeen times the current levels. Critics argue these changes are part of a broader strategy to suppress independent media voices in India, as many small publications may face closure due to the increased operational costs.
The new regulations brought out by the Department of Posts under the Union Ministry of Communications will have grave consequences across the country, particularly for the small and medium newspapers and periodicals which mostly depend on postal services for delivery.
The new postal regulations followed in the footsteps of the new Press and Registration of Periodicals Act 2023, replacing the Press and Registration of Books Act 1867.
The new press law came into effect on 28 December 2023, and overnight nearly 130,000 of the 148,000 newspapers that were previously registered have suddenly been de-registered as “Registered Newspapers”. Under the new dispensation, all those newspapers below the periodicity of a week are classified as “Periodicals”.
That means only dailies, bi-weeklies, tri-weeklies and weeklies will come under the definition of “Registered Newspapers”, and all others—fortnightlies, monthlies, bi-monthlies, quarterlies, half-yearlies—will be treated as “periodicals”.
Under the new law, the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI), which had been in operation since colonial times, has been abolished, and a new body, the “Registrar of Press and Periodicals”, has been established in its place.
Most of the “periodicals” in the current nomenclature have meagre investments and shoestring budgets and are basically run by journalists, individuals, service organisations, and public institutions for the purpose of social service rather than profit. These small and medium newspapers have historically been recipients of government subsidies and support since they have been fulfilling the public’s information needs. The new government’s aim seems to be cutting off that assistance by limiting access to subsidies and other financial help.
In the past, when there was a shortage of newsprint and restrictions on imports, the government itself used to import newsprint through the State Trading Corporation and provide it at discounted rates to the registered newspapers. Many newspapers benefited from this arrangement for decades. However, as domestic newsprint production has increased and import restrictions have eased, the need for this special assistance has diminished.
Another significant benefit that registered newspapers used to enjoy was postal rate concessions. Since readers and subscribers of newspapers often lived far and wide in remote corners, newspapers could not afford to pay high transportation costs. As a social welfare measure, the government offered special, subsidised, and low-cost postal services to the registered newspapers.
This postal concession existed for several decades, and until the 1990s, a registered newspaper could send a single copy to its subscriber anywhere in the country for just two paise. By the 1990s, it had gone up to fifteen or twenty paise. After the rise of private courier services during globalisation, the postal department started attempting to drive newspapers and all consumers towards courier service operators, despite a huge price difference between courier and postal charges. Small newspapers were unable to bear the cost of courier services and continued to rely on postal services.
However, under the new law brought in by the central government in 2023, the classification of newspapers as “Registered Newspapers” has been removed, and they are now considered “Periodicals”. Whether the postal concession would still apply to these periodicals was unclear in the law.
But, seizing this opportunity, the government’s postal department introduced new regulations on 16 December 2024, with the Post Office Regulations 2024. These regulations became famous with news reports on the abolition of the “Book Post” service, in existence for a long time, a bombshell on the publishing sector and independent author-publishers.
Further, the most concerning impact of the new regulations is that small newspapers, which had long enjoyed postal rate concessions, will no longer receive those benefits. As of now, there are 130,000 periodicals in India, and at least 100,000 of them are functional. Before the 2023 law, all these newspapers received postal concession as “Registered Newspapers”. These publications were part of the people’s right to information and received government assistance as a social service measure.
However, the new regulations changed the postal rates for “periodicals” categorised into three classes based on their price. Making the cover price of the periodical the basis for postal rates is an absurd decision, as the postal department has nothing to do with the price of the newspaper—its role is to handle transportation based on the weight or space the packet occupies.
While a newspaper may be distributed for free or at a minimal cost or priced according to its production cost, that is immaterial for the postal service. In fact, a copy of a periodical might weigh several kilograms or occupy a large area making it difficult for transport and delivery, while it might be priced below the prescribed! The transportation cost should therefore depend on the weight, but not the price.
The new rates are as follows:
This means that a newspaper, which used to be transported for 50 paise till now, will now cost anywhere from ₹2 to ₹8 or ₹5 to ₹17. Thus the increase in the postal costs for small newspapers will be four to seventeen times higher, which may drive many of them into financial ruin, making it a proverbial last straw.
Even before this change in rates, the department has been forcing several measures to make the life of small and medium newspapers very difficult. The measures include prohibition on packing the newspaper with a wrapper, asking to send the magazines without any wrapper with address written on the last cover, prohibiting even stapling the opening side of a newspaper making it damaged by the time it reaches its destination, asking the newspaper offices themselves to do all district-wise sorting, collecting additional service charges over and above the legal postal charges, etc.
Is this happening to rationalise the postal services or improving the finances of the postal department as stated, or is there any hidden political agenda? One may suspect that this is part of a larger agenda of muzzling the dissenting voices.
Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have bought, coerced, and manipulated mainstream newspapers and television channels so much that the description “Godi Media” has become popular and notorious. This segment of the media no longer reports societal realities or criticises their governance and has lost credibility.
But the powers that be are still upset that there are still small and medium newspapers and social media platforms beyond their control telling the truth and criticising their actions. These independent voices are speaking out about the governance crisis, public issues, and people’s protests. Now the government seems to be considering ways to shut them down, suppress their voices, make it difficult to survive and prevent the truth from reaching the public.
Under the guise of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, restrictions have already been imposed on social media. A more stringent bill, the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, is expected to be introduced in Parliament sooner or later. The government’s aim is to suppress the press across the country, especially independent media outlets that criticise the government, curtail their freedom of expression, create financial hardships for them, and drive them into closure.
These small and medium newspapers and social media platforms are actually exercising the people’s right to information and that’s what is anathema to Sangh Parivar. The saffron brigade has no regard for the social need to support small newspapers, especially since these newspapers criticise their policies. Their goal is to suppress the voices of small publications. For those in power who cannot tolerate dissent, it is better to have fewer newspapers, and if they can control them, even better. Their strategy is to create obstacles for independent media, seeing them as enemies when they do not align with their views.
Already struggling with rising costs of newsprint, printing presses, office maintenance, staff salaries, internet services, and electricity, small and medium newspapers will now face the crushing burden of these postal charges. This hike in postal rates is effectively a death sentence for many small publications. The true objective of this policy is not just to increase postal charges but to eliminate or reduce the voice of small newspapers altogether.
(The writer is the editor of an independent, small Telugu monthly journal of society and political economy, running for the last 23 years).
