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KAUTILYA (COMMERCE) 12th BOARD

Indigo DPP-10

1. Who was Rajkumar Shukla? What did he want from 7. The Champaran episode was a turning point in
Gandhiji? Gandhiji’s life. Elucidate.

2. What information did Gandhiji get about the
sharecropping system in Champaran?
3. Describe Gandhiji’s visit at Muzzafarpur.
4. Describe the incident related to Motihari.
Or
How can you say that the civil disobedience was
succeeded first time in modern India?
5. Why is the Champaran episode considered to be the
beginning of the Indian struggle for Independence?
8. Why was Gandhiji against taking help from Charles
Freer Andrews? What values of life are conveyed by
this?
9. How was Gandhi able to influence lawyers? Give
instances.
10. “Freedom from fear is more important than legal
justice for the poor”. Do you think that the poor of
India are free from fear after Independence?

6. Gandhiji’s loyality was not a loyalty to abstractions;

it was loyalty to living human beings. Why did
Gandhiji continue his stay in Champaran even after
indigo sharecropping disappeared?

Hints and Solutions
1. Rajkumar Shukla was a peasant from Champaran.
He visited Gandhiji in 1942 at his ashram in
Sevagram, in Central India. He wanted that Gandhiji
should accompany him to his village in Champaran
district. He described to Gandhiji about himself and
his district. He told Gandhiji the peasants of
Champaran were sharecroppers. Rajkumar Shukla
was illiterate but resolute.
He had came to the Congress session to complain
about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar,
and somebody told him to speak to Gandhiji. At that
time, Gandhiji was very busy. Shukla accompanied
him everywhere in India. For weeks he never left
Gandhiji’s side.
Impressed by the sharecropper’s tenacity and story
Gandhiji said, “I have to be in Calcutta on such-and-
such a date. Come and meet me and take me from
there.” Shukla reached at the appointed spot in
Calcutta when Gandhiji arrived. He waited till
Gandhiji was free. Then Gandhiji went with him to
Patna by train.
2. The chief commercial crop of Champaran was
indigo. The British landlords compelled all the ten-
ants to plant 15% of their holdings with indigo and
surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. This was
done by a long-term contract. Then the land-lords
came to know that the Germany had developed
synthetic indigo. Now producing natural indigo was
not at all profitable. Very cunningly the British
landlords obtained agreements from the
sharecroppers to pay them compensation for being
released from the 15% agreement. Many
sharecroppers signed it willingly while the others
engaged lawyers. The landlords hired thugs.
Meanwhile, the information about synthetic indigo
reached the illiterate peasants. Who had paid the
compensation wanted their money back.
3. Gandhiji decided to go to Muzzafarpur, which was
en route to Champaran. He wanted to obtain more
information about the conditions there. He stayed
for two days in the home of Professor Malkani who
was a teacher in a government school. It was not an
ordinary thing those days for a government
professor to harbour a man like him. In smaller
localities, the Indians were afraid to show sympathy
for the advocates of home-rule. The news of the
advent of Gandhiji spread quickly to Champaran
and Muzzafarpur. Sharecroppers in large number
came to see their champion.
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Gandhiji talked to the lawyers about the court cases
of the sharecroppers. They brief him about the cases
and also reported him about the size of their fees.
Gandhiji chided the lawyers for collecting big fee
from the sharecroppers. He said that it was useless
to go to the courts when the peasants were so
crushed and fear-stricken.
4. Gandhiji visited British official commissioner of
Trihut division. He tried to bully Gandhiji and
ordered him to leave Trihut. Gandhiji proceeded to
Motihari, the capital of Champaran. A large number
of people greeted him at the railway station. A
report came that a peasant had been maltreated in a
nearby village. Gandhiji decided to go there.
Gandhji was a given a notice to leave Champaran
immediately. Gandhiji signed the receipt and wrote
on it that he would disobey the order.
As a result Gandhiji was ordered to present in the
court the next day. The next morning a lot of
peasants had gathered in the town of Motihari to
support Gandhiji. The officials had to seek
Gandhiji’s help to control the crowd. However they
got the clear message that the Indians couldn’t be
ordered in their own country. The government was
baffled. They wanted to postpone the trial.
Gandhiji protested against it. He told the court that
he was not a lawbreaker, but he had duties towards
his countrymen. In the end the judge said he would
not deliver any judgement for several days. Gandhiji
was allowed to remain at liberty. After a few days
the case against him was dropped. The civil
disobedience was suc¬ceeded first time in modern
India.
5. Gandhiji thought that the problem of the
sharecroppers could be solved within a few days.
But he stayed there for months. The landlords were
compelled to refund some of the money they
extracted from the peasants illegally and also they
had to part with their prestige. Eventually they
abandoned their estates which were reverted to the
peasants.
The peasants came to know that they had rights and
the defender of their rights. Before that the planters
had behaved as lords above the law. The
government was compelled to bow before Gandhiji
and the case against him was dropped. The civil
disobedience was succeeded for the first time in
India. Therefore the Champaran episode is

considered as the beginning of the Indian struggle
for Independence.
6. Gandhiji was able to win the battle of Champaran
for the poor sharecroppers. They got their land back
from the British landlords. But Gandhiji continued
his stay there. Gandhiji saw the cultural and social
backwardness in the Champaran villages and
wanted to do something about it. Many of his
disciples joined him in this noble cause. His
youngest son and his wife also arrived there from
the ashram. Primary schools were opened in six
villages.
Kasturbai taught the ashram rules on personal
cleanliness and community sanitation. Health
conditions were miserable. Gandhiji got a doctor
volunteer. He offered his services for six months.
Three medicines were available castor oil, quinine
and sulphur ointment. Anybody who showed a
coated tongue was given a dose of castor oil;
anybody with malaria fever received quinine and
castor oil; anybody with skin eruptions received
ointment with castor oil.
Gandhiji’s loyalty was not a loyalty to abstractions;
it was a loyalty towards human beings. His politics
was intertwined with the practical day-to-day
problems of the millions.
7. Gandhiji considered the Champaran episode a
turning point in his life. His revolutionary vision
inspired many people. The episode was linked with
day to day problems of the poor peasants of
Champaran. They were compelled by the British
landlords to crop Indigo in 15% of their total
holdings and surrender the whole harvest as rent.
When they discovered that synthetic Indigo had
been developed by Germany, they no longer needed
the harvest of the peasants. But they hid this fact
from the peasants.
Instead they demanded compensation from the poor
peasants to release them from the 15% agreement.
Some signed willingly, while others engaged
lawyers. The landlords hired thugs. Gandhiji helped
the poor peasants by protesting and civil
disobedience. At last, he was successful in freeing
the peasants from the exploitation. Many other
movements took place after t that. It also meant the
victory of civil disobedience for the first time in
India.
8. Early in the Champaran action, Charles Freer
Andrews, the English pacifist became Gandhiji’s
devoted follower. He came to bid Gandhiji farewell
before leaving for his duty to the Fiji Islands.
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Gandhiji’s lawyer friends thought it would be a
good idea for Andrews to stay at Champaran and
help them. Andrews was willing if Gandhiji agreed.
But Gandhiji strongly opposed it. He said to have
Mr. Andrews on their side only because he
happened to be an Englishman is wrong. It would
show only the weakness of their spirit. They were
fighting for a just cause and they should believe in
their strength. This incident showed that self-
reliance and self-help are most important to achieve
any goal.
9. Gandhiji was able to influence the lawyers in
several ways. First he came to know about the size
of fee they collected from the peasants to fight their
cases in court. He chided them for that. He told
them that taking such cases to courts were not good
when the peasants were so crushed and fear-
stricken. When it was feared that Gandhiji might be
put to prison they consulted among themselves.
They realised that if Gandhiji who was totally
stranger, and yet ready to go to prison for the sake
of peasants; it would be shameful for them to go
homes since they were not only the residents of the
adjoining districts but also had claimed to help the
peasants. Therefore they decided to follow Gandhiji
in jail in pairs. In Champaran an Englishman,
Charles Freer Andrews became Gandhiji’s disciple.
The lawyers throught that it would be of great help
to them if Andrews supported them. But Gandhiji
told that it would show only the weakness of their
soul to seek help of Mr Andrews only because he
happened to be an Englishman. They should learn to
be self-reliant.
10. The episode of Champaran represents the
exploitation of the poor Indian peasants by the
British planters. At that time India was under British
rule. But even after seventy years of Independence
there is Champaran everywhere in India. The poor
are still exploited by the bureaucrats, moneylenders
and politicians. The moneylenders charge
unimaginably high rates of interest from the
farmers.
No wonder the incidents of suicides by the farmers
are on the rise. Our constitution has given equal
rights to all Indians. But in fact the poor can’t enjoy
any of the rights given to them by the constitution.
They are remembered only at the time of elections.
Though they had got political freedom yet this
freedom is shameful.
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