Chapter : 4. Print Culture and The Modern World
Print and the Poor People
(b) Print and the Poor People :
(i) Public libraries : Public libraries were set up from the early twentieth century, expanding the access to books. For rich local patrons, setting up a library was away of acquiring prestige.
(ii) Highlighting the issue of class discrimination : From the late 19th century, many writers started writing about the issue of class distinction.
(a) Jyotiba Phule wrote about injustices of the caste system in his book Gulamgiri (1871)
(b) In the 20th century, B.R. Ambedkar in Maharastra and E.V. Ramaswamy in Madras wrote powerfully on caste and their writings were read by people all over India.
Local protest movements and sects also created a lot of popular journals and tracts criticizing ancient scriptures and envisioning a new and just future.
(iii) Poor workers and print : Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker wrote and poublished Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal in 1938. The poems of another Kanpur millwork, who wrote under the name of Sudarshan Chakr between 1935and 1955, were brought together and published in a collection called Sacchi Kavitayan. By the 1930s, Bangalore cotton millworkers set up libraries to educate themselves, following the example of Bombay workers.
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