ROLE OF MAHATMA GANDHI IN INDIGO

SESSION 2022-2023

NAME: GAYATRI JADHAV

CLASS: 12TH CBSE COM

ROLL NO: 04

SUBJECT: ENGLISH

SUBMITTED TO: MR. FRANCIS JOSEPH

 CERTIFICATE

This project “ROLE OF MAHATMA GANDHI IN INDIGO” has

been
completed by Ms. Gayatri Jadhav studying at

PODAR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, SATARA

Class XII CBSE [SCIENCE (MATHS)] ROLL NO.- 04

During the year 2022- 2023.

Teachers Signature Principal Signature

Examiner College Stamp

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The success and outcome of this project required a lot of

guidance and assistance from many people and I am extremely
fortunate to have gotten this all along the completion of my
project work.

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my

teacher Mr. Innusa I.M., who gave me a golden opportunity to
do this wonderful project on “ROLE OF MAHATMA GANDHI IN
INDIGO “. I am very excited to work on this project based on the
Father of our Nation.

I am also thankful to Mr. A . K Singh the Principal of Podar

International School, Satara for his constant support, guidance,
and encouragement.

I would also like to thank my family and friends for their

invaluable support, advice, and love which helped me to do this
project within the given time frame.
 INDEX

1. Introduction

2. Gandhian Philosophy

3. Role of Mahatma Gandhi in Indigo

4. Conclusion
 INTRODUCTION

Mahatma Gandhi, by name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,

was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India. He was an
Indian lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who became
the leader of the nationalist movement against the British rule
of India. He is also known as the “Father of our Nation”.

Mahatma Gandhi is considered unique because of his insistence

on nonviolent resistance to injustice. The greatest achievement
of Gandhi was his life-long fight for the independence of India.

Effective leadership can overcome any problem as shown by

Mahatma Gandhi in securing justice for the oppressed in
Champaran through convincing arguments and negotiation.
 GANDHIAN PHILOSOPHY

Gandhian philosophy is not only simultaneously political,

moral, and religious, it is also traditional and modern, simple
and complex. It embodies numerous Western influences to
which Gandhiji was exposed, but is rooted in ancient Indian
culture harnessing universal moral & religious principles.

o The philosophy exists on several planes - spiritual or

religious, moral, political, economic, social, individual,
and collective.
o The spiritual or religious element, and God, are at its
core.
o Human nature is regarded as fundamentally
virtuous.
o All individuals are believed to be capable of high
moral development and reform.

Gandhian ideology emphasizes not idealism, but practical

idealism.
 ROLE OF MAHATMA GANDHI IN INDIGO
SATYAGRAHA

Mahatma Gandhi is an iconic personality who participated in

many freedom movements and
the indigo movement was one of
them.

The movement was started by

Gandhi against the exploitative
Indigo plantation system. This system forced poor farmers to
grow Indigo and sell it to company officials at cheap prices.
The land once cultivated with Indigo could not be cultivated
with any other crop, making the conditions of farmers poor.

The chapter Indigo is about how Mahatma Gandhi struggled for

the underprivileged peasants of Champaran a district of Bihar.
They were the sharecroppers with the British planters. The
peasants use to live a wretched life and were under an
agreement to grow Indigo. Thus, Gandhi decided to fight against
injustice. He waged a war that lasted for a year to tackle
discrimination and got justice for the peasants. After that, it
helped the peasants become courageous and aware of their
fundamental rights. Moreover, Gandhiji did not just work to
tackle political or economic issues, but he also took up social
issues. He worked to provide them with education, health, and
hygiene and taught them self-confidence.

Many distressed people from Champaran brought Mahatma

Gandhi’s attention to the problem of Champaran and one of
them was Rajkumar Shukla who had come to the congress
session to complain about the injustice of the landlord system in
Bihar. And due to Shukla’s consistency, Gandhi Ji was impressed
and told him to take him to the district.

Mahatma Gandhi met with a lawyer named Mr. Rajendra Prasad

who later on became president of the Congress party and India.

When the news of Gandhi’s advent and his mission spread

quickly through Muzzafarpur and Champaran all the peasants
began arriving on foot and told him about the size of lawyer’s
fees Gandhiji, later on, chided the lawyers and made them
reduce their fees.
As per the contract, 15 percent of the peasant’s landholding
was to be reserved for the cultivation of indigo, the crop of
which was given to the landlord as rent. This system was very
oppressive. Gandhi wanted to help the sharecroppers. So he
visited the British landlord association but he was not given
any information because he was an outsider. He then went to
the commissioner of the Tirhut division who threatened
Gandhi and ask him to leave Tirhut. Instead of returning, he
went to Motihari. Here he started gathering complete
information about the indigo contract.

When he was on his way to meet a peasant who was being

maltreated, he was stopped by the police and was given the
notice to go back but Gandhi disobeyed, and then a case was
filed against him. On the day of the trial, a large crowd
gathered near the court. It became impossible to handle them.
Gandhi helped the officers to control the crowd. Gandhi gave
his statement that he was not a lawbreaker but he disobeyed
so that he could help the peasants. He was granted bail and
later on, the case against him was dropped.
Gandhi and his associates started gathering all sorts of
information related to the indigo contract and its misuse.
Later, a commission was set up to look into the matter. After
the inquiry was conducted, the planters were found guilty and
were asked to pay back the peasants. Expecting refusal, they
offered to pay only 25 percent of the amount. Gandhi
accepted this too because he wanted to free the
sharecroppers from the binding of the indigo contract. He
opened six schools in Champaran villages and volunteers like
Mahadev Desai, Narhari Parikh, and his son, Devdas taught
them. Kasturbai, the wife of Gandhi used to teach personal
hygiene. Later on, with the help of a volunteer doctor, he
provided medical facilities to the natives of Champaran, thus
making their life a bit better. A peacemaker, Andrews wanted
to volunteer at Champaran ashram. But Gandhi refused as he
wanted Indians to learn the lesson of self-reliance so that they
would not depend on others. Gandhi told the writer that it was
Champaran’s incident that made him think that he did not
need the Britisher’s advice while he was in his own country.
 CONCLUSION

The Champaran episode was a turning point in Gandhiji’s life

but did not begin as an act of defiance. It grew out as an
attempt to eliminate the distress of large numbers of poor
peasants.

When a British disciple of Gandhiji, Charles Freer Andrews,

asked the Champaran people if he could fight for them against
the British, people rejoiced. But Gandhiji taught them a lesson
of Self-Reliance and to win the fight on their own.

This is how Gandhi helped the people of Champaran in their

indigo struggle by fighting their case against the government
and also providing them with schools and medical facilities.