Journal officiel de l'Inde française.

Scope and content: This periodical, established by M. Perreaux, was initially known as the Moniteur officiel des Etablissements français dans l'Inde : journal administratif, judiciaire, commercial et littéraire. A government decision of 8th February 1850 authorized M. Perreaux to start the journal and become its editor-in-chief. It also allowed him to avail of the government press and its workers for its publication (see Bulletin Officiel des Etablissements Français de l'Inde (1850), pp. 33-34). The journal ran under the name of Moniteur officiel from 8th March 1850 to 30th December 1893 and became part of the official publications of the colony. In 1884, its print-run was 325 (258 for free distribution + 67 for sale) (see Bulletin officiel 1884, p. 179). In December 1893, the decision was taken to change the name of the periodical to Journal officiel des Etablissements français dans l'Inde with effect from January 1894 (see Bulletin Officiel (1893), p. 588). The order does not give any reason for the change in name. Later, at the end of 1910, it was decided to stop the publication of the Bulletin officiel des Etablissements Français de l'Inde and to continue only with the Journal officiel (see Bulletin officiel vol. 83 (1910), pp. 980-981). It was also decided to publish the Journal in 2 parts and to release them as separate fascicules with their own pagination. So from 1911, the journal began to be published in 2 parts: the first contained the “acts” of the metropolitan government to be promulgated in the colony and those of the local government, including promotions, nominations, transfers and all decisions concerning personnel, administrative announcements/notices (eg. tenders, competitions for government jobs etc.) several of which were translated into the Tamil vernacular. The second part gave information on the life of the colony: for eg. the movement of ships to and from the colony, list of passengers, departure of post, statements of civil status and acts of renunciation (actes de renonciation), municipal music, meteorological information, legal and judicial announcements (eg. auction of seized property), meetings of the General Council, obituaries, receptions, celebrations of the national day, prize distribution at the college, commercial advertisements etc. The subscription rate of the Journal appeared at the head of every issue. It was 10 Rs or 14 FF in 1911, but was reduced to 3 Rs and 8 FF in September 1912. The Journal continued to be published in 2 separate parts/fascicules till March 1948, after which it was decided to publish it in 1 part only, in quarto-size and issued every Saturday. (Journal officiel 1948 Jan-Mar, p. 199). The single volume contained both the official and non-official information and was printed in two columns. The title of the journal was changed in 1943 from Journal des Etablissements Français dans l'Inde to Journal officiel de l'Inde Française. The last issue to come out under this title was that of 22nd Oct 1954. The de facto transfer of power from the colonial administration to the Indian authorities took place on 1st November 1954. Thereafter the gazette changed its name to La Gazette de l'Etat de Pondichéry, Karikal, Mahé and Yanaon. It continues to be published to this day. The frequency of the periodical saw several changes in the course of its publication. The issues initially came out once a week and then, from 1880, twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. In the first half of 1894 the periodical again became a weekly to be remade a bi-weekly from July 1894. In July 1897, it went back to being a weekly till July 1908. From August 1908 to July 1910 it was published twice a week Finally from August 1910, it reverted to being a weekly and remained so till the end, appearing every Tuesday from 1910 to mid-1915, then every Saturday till 1951, and then again every Tuesday from 1951 to 1954. The IFP has the 1st parts of all the volumes from 1911 to 1954. However, it has the 2nd parts only for the years 1911 to 1917 and 1941. The Decennial Directory (Répertoire décennal) of the Bulletin officiel des établissements français de l'Inde for the years 1907-1916 indexes the volumes 1911-1916 of the Journal officiel, since the latter took over from the Bulletin as the administration's official gazette.