ANSWER SHEET
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4. (b) Champaran was deep in the interior of the
country.
Explanation: It can be inferred that Gandhi
hadn’t heard of Champaran since it was deep
in the interior of the country. Hence, option (b)
is the correct answer. Option (d) is a fact not
an inference. Options (a) and (c) are incorrect
as there is no evidence in the chapter for them.
8. (d) Lucknow, Cawnpore, ashram near
Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Patna, Muzzafarpur,
Motihari
Explanation: Gandhi’s journey starts from
Lucknow, then he goes to Cawnpore before
returning to his ashram near Ahmedabad.
Then to Calcutta, Patna, Muzzafarpur and
finally Motihari. Hence, option (d) is the correct
answer. Options (a), (b) and (c) are incorrect
since they are not to be found in the text.
13. (C) (a) details of the daily problems faced by
human beings.
Explanation: Options (b), (c) and (d) are
covered in the extract. Hence, they are
incorrect. Only option (a) isn’t covered. So, it
is the correct answer.
15. (B) (a) Because he took up the cause of the
sharecroppers.
Explanation: Gandhi became the
champion of the sharecroppers because he
told up their cause at a time when no one
came forward to help them. Hence, option
(a) is the correct answer. Options (b), (c)
and (d) are facts but not the answer to this
question.
19. The first reason of Gandhi’s quick popularity
could be that Gandhi listened to the peasants.
He listened to Rajkumar Shukla when he asked
for help. Gandhi understood the problems they
faced at the hands of the British. He researched
their problems and understood them before he
took any steps to help them.
24. Gandhi was an observant man who was keen
to help people. When a poor, illiterate and
scrawny peasant followed him to three places
Lucknow, Cawnpore and Sevagram near
Ahmedabad, he took notice of it.
27. Gandhi applied this quote to his own life first
going to Champaran to help the sharecroppers.
Also, Gandhi didn’t stop at advising the
peasants but got involved in the negotiations
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as well as bringing about cultural and social
change there.
32. Before Gandhi intervened, the legal system
at Champaran was totally ineffective in
protecting the powerless. This is evident from
lawyers overcharging the peasants and the
way the authorities were keen for Gandhi to
leave.
36. Champaran was the place where Gandhi
himself said to Louis Fischer that he decided to
‘urge the departure of the British’. It was one
of the major events in the history for Indian
Independence. It started with a poor and gaunt
peasant called Rajkumar Shukla, who was
adamant enough to take Gandhi to Champaran
district in Bihar. There he discovered the unfair
and exploitative policies of the British which
burdened the poor sharecroppers. Gandhi
fought for the farmers, on behalf of them. The
British didn’t like Gandhi to be there, so they
forced him to leave by sending him a legal
notice. But Gandhi refused. He was summoned
to the court. This brought the people of
Chamaparan and Muzzafarpur out in droves
to show their support for Gandhi by thronging
the court. This made the authorities nervous.
First, they delayed the trial. Then they dropped
it. Civil disobedience in Champaran was the
turning point as it paved the way for civil
disobedience in the rest of India.
38. Gandhi’s profession as a lawyer stood by him
in several instances in the Champaran episode.
The problem of the sharecroppers was the
extremely exploitative measures the British had
employed, harassing the tenant sharecroppers.
Some of them approached lawyers for help.
Gandhi told the lawyers that a legal remedy
would not help the peasants who were so
defeated. Gandhi was a lawyer and hence, his
understanding of the law would have helped
him come to this conclusion. Second, when
Gandhi was summoned to the court, he called
Rajendra Prasad and asked him to come with
his powerful friends. This was a move made
by a lawyer, not by a simple person. Next, his
negotiations on behalf of the farmers with the
landowners were possible only because he was
not a lay person but a lawyer. Finally, after the
compensation amount had been fixed, Gandhi
was satisfied that it was both a moral victory
for the peasants and a lesson in exercising
Indigo 1
 rights. Legal rights are a lawyer’s business. So,
probably this was also Gandhi's fine advocacy.
40. The peasants in Champaran were suffering.
Someone told me that Gandhiji could help. So,
I went to Lucknow to meet him. I asked him
to come to Champaran to help us. He went
to Cawnpore, Sevagram near Ahmedabad
and then Calcutta. I followed him everywhere.
We finally met and from there went to Patna
to the lawyer Rajendra Prasad’s house. He
wasn’t there. The servants allowed us to stay
on the grounds, but they thought Gandhiji
was a peasant too. Then, Gandhiji decided to
go to Muzaffarpur first to the understand the
problem. Gandhiji spoke to lawyers too but
he said the solution was freedom from fear.
Gandhiji spoke to many of the magistrates but
they made him go to the court. Many people
in Motihari came forward in large crowds to
support Gandhiji. And soon, Gandhiji was free.
He spoke to more lawyers who were willing
to go to jail with Gandhiji. But the case was
dropped. Then Gandhiji studied the problem,
2 English Core Class XII
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talked to the Bara Sahebs to get a part of our
money back. He was truly a Mahatma.
43. Gandhi was brought in by Rajkumar Shukla to
help the peasants of Champaran. The problem
was an economic and political one. After the
larger political and economic problem was
solved, he turned his attention to the social
and cultural ones. He noticed how backward
the district was and wanted to do something
about it. He asked two of his disciples Mahadev
Desai and Narhari Parikh and their wives to
join in this effort. Other people came from all
over the country. His wife Kasturibai and son,
Devdas too joined him in opening primary
schools in six villages and taught cleanliness
and sanitation to the villagers. Gandhi called
a doctor, who treated patients with just three
medicines—castor oil, quinine and sulphur
ointment. Gandhi even asked Kasturibai to talk
to the women about wearing clean clothes. All
this was done on his own initiative. Hence, it
was clear that Gandhi was more interested in
solving social and cultural problems.