Indigo - Louis Fischer - Class-12

INDIGO
 -  Louis  Fischer
Common  Questions  And  Answers    :   For  1  Mark  Each :

        1.       Who  is  Sir  Edward  Gait ?

Ans  :  Sir  Edward  Gait  was  the  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  province  of  Bihar  .

        2.       Who  was  Rajkumar Shukla ?

Ans :  Rajkumar  Shukla  was  a  poor  sharecropper  from  Champaran.

        3.       Whom  did  Gandhi  and  Shukla  propose  to  meet  at  Patna ?

Ans  : Gandhi  and  Shukla  proposed  to  meet  Rajendra  Prasad  at  Patna.

        4.       Why  was  Gandhi  visiting  Lucknow  in  1916  ?

Ans  :    Gandhi  was  visiting  Lucknow  to  attend  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Indian  National  Congress . 

 

        5.       Where  is  Champaran  situated  ?

Ans  :   Champaran  is  situated  in  Bihar.

        6.       What  did  Shukla  want  Gandhi  to  do  ?

Ans :  Rajkumar  Shukla  wanted  Gandhi  to visit  his  district  Champaran .

        7.       What  was  Gandhi’s  politics  intertwined  with  ?

Ans  :  Gandhi’s  problems  was  intertwined  with  the  practical  , day -to –day  problems  of  millions . 

        8.       Which  country  had  synthetic  Indigo ?

Ans  :  Germany  had  synthetic  Indigo .

        9.       Where  did  Gandhi  stay  in  Muzzafarpur  ?

Ans  :  Gandhi  stayed  in  the  house  of  professor  Malkani  , a  teacher  in  a  government  school.

For  2  Mark  Each  :    

        1.       Why  do  you  think  Gandhi  considered  the  Chamaparan  episode  to  be  a  turning -point  in  his life ?

Ans  :  Gandhi  thought  that  the  Champaran  episode  was  a  turning  point  in  his  life because  it  taught  him  that  the  British  could  not  order  him  about  in  his  own  country  and  it  was  this  episode  that  led  him  to  urge  the  departure  of  the  British  from  India .

        2.       What  was the  incident  that  prompted  Gandhi  to  raise  his  voice  of  protest  against  the  British  ?

Ans  :  In  1917  Gandhi  visited  Champaran  at  the  request  of  Rajkumar  Shukla  to  fight  against  the  injustice  done  to  the  sharecroppers  of the  district  by  the  landlords . Gandhi  succeeded  in  getting  an  honourable  settlement  for  the  sharecroppers peasants  .  This  Champaran  episode  prompted  Gandhi  to  raise  his  voice  against  the  British . 

        3.       Why  was  the  Champaran  episode  so  significant  in  Gandhi’s  life ?

Ans  :  In  1917  Gandhi  visited  Champaran  at  the  request  of  Rajkumar  Shukla  to  fight  against  the  injustice  done  to  the  sharecroppers  of the  district  by  the  landlords . Gandhi  succeeded  in  getting  an  honourable  settlement  for  the  sharecroppers peasants  .  This  Champaran  episode  prompted  Gandhi  to  raise  his  voice  against  the  British. That  is  why  Champaran  was  so  significant  in  Gandhi’s  life.

        4.       Why  did  Gandhi  Choose  to  go  to  Muzzafarpur  first  before  going  on to  Champaran ?

Ans :   Gandhi  chose  to  go to  Muzzafarpur  first  to  obtain more information about  the  conditions  prevailing in  Champaran  than  Rajkumar  Shukla  was  capable  of  imparting  .  So  , Gandhi  sent  a  telegram  to  J. B.  Kripalani  , whom  he  had  seen  at  Tagore’s  Shantiniketan

        5.       How  was a  solution  to  the  problem  of  indigo  sharecroppers  of  Champaran  found ?

Ans  : 

For  5  Mark  Each  :

        1.       Describe  the  exploitation  of  the  indigo sharecroppers by  the  English  landlords ? Did Gandhi  help  them to  get  an  honourable  settlement  ?

Ans  :  During the British period most of the arable land in Champaran district was divided into large estates owned by Englishmen and worked by Indian tenants.The chief commercial crop was indigo. The landlords compelled all tenants to plant in 15 percent of their holdings with indigo and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. This was done by long term contract. But when the landlords learned that Germany had developed synthetic indigo they decided to free the Indian sharecroppers from the 15 percent contract but for this they obtained agreements from the sharecroppers to pay them compensation. The agreements were highly unfavourable to the sharecroppers. Most of them opposed and went to the court. But the landlords engaged thugs. Meanwhile the information about synthetic indigo also reached the peasants who had signed agreements and they now wanted their money back. At this point Gandhi arrived in Champaran. Gandhi was immediately joined by a number of prominent lawyers including Rajendra Prasad. They made a thorough enquiry into the grievances of the peasants. Depositions by ten thousand peasants were written down,and notes made on other evidence. There' was, of course, vehement protests from the English landlords. In June 1917,Gandhi was summoned by Sir Edward Gait, the Lieutenant Governor. Before he went to meet him detailed plan for civil disobedience was made in case Gandhi wad detained. Gandhi had four protracted interviews with the Lieutenant Governor,  who, as a result appointed an official commission of enquiry into the indigo sharecroppers' situation. The commission consisted of landlords,Government officials and Gandhi as the sole representative of the peasants. At last the landlords agreed to make refunds 'of 25 percent of money to the peasants. It was an honourable settlement for the peasants. Gandhi explained that the amount the refund was less important than the fact that me landlords had been obliged to surrender part of their money and, with it, part of their prestige.

        2.       Describe  the  efforts  made  by  R. K.  Shukla  to  persuade  Gandhi  to  go  to  Champaran ?

Ans  :  Rajkumar Shukla was a poor sharecropping peasant from Champaran. In December 1916 he went to the Congress Session held at Lucknow  to meet Gandhi to complain about the injustice of the Landlord System in Bihar and to request him to come to Champaran. Gandhi, till then, had never heard of the place. He told Shukla that he had an appointment in Cawnpore and was also committed to go to other parts of India. Shukla did no give up hope and he accompanied Gandhi wherever he went. Then Gandhi returned to his Ashram near Ahmedabad. Shukla followed him to the Ashram. For weeks he never left Gandhi's side and

was always urging him to fix a date for his visit. Gandhi was greatly impressed by the tenacity and the account he had given of the oppression in Champaran and decided to visit Chamnparan. He told  Shukla that he would be visiting Calcutta soon. He gave him a date on which he was meet him there and take him to Champaran.Thus. Shukla succeeded in persuading Gandhi to visit Champaran.

       3.       ‘ The  battle  of  Champaran is  won ’ ,  Gandhi  exclaimed . Explain  the  context  in which this was  said    

Ans:   When  Gandhi was in Motihari, the head quarter of Champaran  district, he was served with a notice to leave the district immediately. Gandhi signed a receipt for the notice and wrote on it that he would disobey the order. Thereupon, he was summoned to appear before the court the next day. The news of Gandhi being summoned to the court spread and thousands peasants gathered around the court house in the morning. Their spontaneous demonstration baffled the government and it wanted to postpone the date of trial. But Gandhi protested against the postponement and he told the court that he was involved in a' conflict of duties'-on the one hand, not to set a bad example as a law breaker; on the other hand ,to render humanitarian and national service' for which he had come to Champaran.  He disobeyed the order to leave not because he did not have respect for the lawful authority, but because of his obedience to the voice of his conscience. He pleaded guilty and asked for due penalty. But the magistrate reserved the judgement to a later date.

Rajendra Prasad, Brij Kishor  Babu, Maulana  Mazharul  Huq and other prominent lawyers who had come to help Gandhi then conferred among themselves and concluded that it would be wrong to desert Gandhi who was ready to go the prison for the sake of the peasants of their own. province. So they. decided to support him and to court arrest with Gandhi. At this Gandhi exclaimed with joy that "The battle of Champaran is won."