2100
AT last the Government of India has realised the recklessness of letting the Press Act remain on the Statute Book, at any rate in its present form. At the last meeting of the Legislative Assembly, it was proposed by an official member that a Committee of officials and non-officials be appointed to examine the Press and Registration of Books Act and the Indian Press Act and report what modifications were required in the existing law. The proposal was carried, after it had been amended at the instance of two non-official members, so as to include the Newspapers Incitement to Offences Act within the scope of the inquiry and also to make it possible for the Committee to recommend the repeal of the Act if that was found advisable. We are of the opinion that what the circumstances of the case called for was not the appointment of a Committee, but the immediate introduction of a Bill to repeal the most obnoxious measure that exists in our Statute Book with the sole exceptions of the