estates came over to towns for luxurious living while the small landholders
continued to remain in villages and they formed the nucleus of rural middle
class. To this class were added the naibs, gomasthas, moneylenders and
darogas of the villages.
    In order to meet administrative necessities the British had to encourage
the spread of English education and educated Indians were appointed in the
service of the Company. These service holders and contractors who
undertook to construct roads, buildings, etc. others who took to service under
merchants added to this numbers to the urban middle class. Contractors,
small scale business men, dalals, banias, etc., although not highly educated,
earned enough money and came to be known as the baboo class who lived a
riotous life of lavish expenditure.
    It has to be mentioned here that the British did not desire the growth of
statesmen, intellectuals, persons who could give leadership to the nation, or
persons fit for high military posts. Rise of persons of such capabilities from
among the Indians was undesirable from the point of view of quiet British
rule over India.
    However equipped with a Western education and emboldened by their
exposure the middle class became conscious of their rights and status and of
the need for progress. The obstacles put in the way of their self-expression by
the ruling class made them nationally conscious and set the stage for a
national movement. It became clear to the middle class that the only means of
social, political and economic emancipation of the Indians was the end of
foreign rule.
THE PRESS AND ITS IMPACT
Origin The press in India was largely an English institution. The first
newspaper that appeared in Calcutta in January 1780 was the weekly Bengal
Gazette, though best known as ‘Hicky’s Gazette’ after the name of its
founder, J.A. Hicky. The Calcutta Gazette, which came into existence in
1784, later became the official gazettee of the Bengal government.
    The first vernacular newspaper, the Samachar Darpan, appeared in 1818,
in Bengali due to the efforts of