Table of Contents
TEXTBOOK QUESTION AND ANSWER:
Think As you Read
Q.1 Strike out what is not true in the following.
a. Rajkumar Shukla was
(i) a sharecropper.
(ii) a politician.
(iii) a delegate.
(iv) a landlord.
ANSWER:
(i) a sharecropper.
(ii) a politician.
(iii) a delegate.
(iv) a landlord.
b. Rajkumar Shukla was
(i) poor.
(ii) physically strong.
(iii) illiterate.
ANSWER:
(i) poor.
(ii) physically strong.
(iii) illiterate.
Q.2 Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as being ‘resolute’?
ANSWER:
Rajkumar Shukla is described as being ‘resolute’ because even after being told about the prior engagements of Gandhi at Cawnpore and other parts across the county, he does not quit. He continues to accompany Gandhi everywhere. Furthermore, he persistently asks Gandhi to fix a date for his visit to his native district of Champaran. His resolution and determination finally impresses Gandhi and the latter complies with his request.
Q.3 Why do you think the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant?
ANSWER:
Gandhi was a simple and humble man dressed in a plain ‘dhoti’ (loincloth). To the servants, he must have looked like just another poor farmer in this country. Moreover, he was accompanied by Rajkumar Shukla whom they knew to be a poor indigo sharecropper. Thus, when the servants saw them both together, they mistook Gandhi to be another peasant.
Q.4List the places that Gandhi visited between his first meeting with Shukla and his arrival at Champaran.
ANSWER:
Gandhi first met Shukla at Lucknow. Then he was in Cawnpore and other parts of India. He returned to his ashram near Ahmedabad. Later he visited Calcutta, Patna and Muzaffarpur before arriving at Champaran.
Q.5 What did the peasants pay the British landlords as rent? What did the British now want instead and why? What would be the impact of synthetic indigo on the prices of natural indigo?
ANSWER:
The peasants used to pay indigo as rent to the British landlords. Germany had now developed synthetic indigo. So the British landlords wanted money as compensation for being released from natural arrangement. The prices of natural Indigo would go down due to the synthetic indigo.
Q.6The events in this part of the text illustrate Gandhi’s method of working. Can you identify some instances of this method and link them to his ideas of satyagraha and non-violence?
ANSWER:
There are many instances in the narrative that can be linked to Gandhi’s idea of non-cooperation andsatyagraha. One such instance is Gandhi’s refusal to obey the court order asking him to leave Champaran immediately. Besides that, Gandhi’s protest against the delay of the court proceedings is also an instance of his belief in civil disobedience.
Furthermore, Gandhi does not falter to plead guilty in front of the court. He accepts his guilt but presents a rational case as to what made him disobey the law. For him, truth is above everything and, thus, he decides to follow the voice of conscience and obey the “higher law of our being”.
Q.7 Why did Gandhi agree to a settlement of 25 per cent refund to the farmers?
ANSWER:
For Gandhi the amount of the refund was less important than the fact that the landlords had been forced to return part of the money and with it, part of their prestige. So he agreed to the settlement of 25 percent refund to the farmers.
Q.8How did the episode change the plight of the peasants?
ANSWER:
The episode of Champaran brought more than one change in the plight of the peasants of that district. These peasants gained confidence which was evident in their spontaneous demonstration on the morning of Gandhi’s trial. After the successful refund of the compensation, the peasants, for the first time, realised their own rights and were liberated from the fear that had plagued them.
This episode brought an end to the fifteen percent arrangement of sharecropping. However, the most radical change that the episode brought about was in their social and cultural standard. Gandhi opened schools in six villages. His wife took pains to make the peasants aware of the importance of general sanitation and personal hygiene. He even appointed a doctor.
Understanding the Text
Q.1Why do you think Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning-point in his life?
ANSWER:
The Champaran episode began as an attempt to ease the sufferings of large number of poor peasants. He got the whole hearted support of thousands of people. Gandhiji admitted that he had done a very ordinary thing. He declared that the British could not order him about in his own country. Hence he considered the Champaran episode as a turning point in his life.
Q.2 How was Gandhi able to influence lawyers? Give instances.
ANSWER:
Gandhi was able to influence the lawyers through his conviction, earnestness and pertinent questioning. Gandhi reproached the lawyers of Muzzafarpur for charging a large sum of money as fee from the peasants. Later, the lawyers from Bihar opined that they would return to their own places in the event of his imprisonment. But, Gandhi made them realise that it would be impudent for them, being lawyers from a neighbouring place, to return when a stranger was ready to get himself imprisoned for the peasants. So, they agreed to follow him to jail. Gandhi also convinced the lawyers not to seek support from an Englishman and be self-reliant.
Q.3What was the attitude of the average Indian in smaller localities towards advocates of ‘home rule’?
ANSWER:
The average Indians in smaller localities were afraid to show sympathy for the advocates of home-rule. Gandhi stayed at Muzaffarpur for two days in the home of professor Malkani, a teacher in a government school. It was an extraordinary thing in those days for a government professor to give shelter to one who opposed the government.
Q.4How do we know that ordinary people too contributed to the freedom movement?
ANSWER:
Professor J.B. Kriplani received Gandhi at Muzaffarpur railway station at midnight. He had a large body of students with him. Sharecroppers from Champaran came on foot and by conveyance to see Gandhi. Muzaffarpur lawyers too called on him. A vast multitude greeted Gandhi when he reached Motihari railway station. Thousands of people demonstrated around the court room. This shows that ordinary people too contributed to the freedom movement.
Thinking about Language
Q.1 Notice the sentences in the text which are in ‘direct speech’.
Why does the author use quotations in his narration?
ANSWER:
Below are some sentences in the text which are in ‘direct speech’:
Short Answer Type Question:
Q1.Who was Rajkumar Shukla? Why did he come to Lucknow?
ANSWER: Rajkumar Shukla was a poor peasant from Champaran district in Bihar. He had come to Lucknow, where a Congress session was being held, to complain about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar.
Q2. Where is Champaran district situated? What did the peasants grow there? How did they use their harvest?
ANSWER: Champaran district of Bihar is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas, near the kingdom of Nepal. Under an ancient arrangement, the Champaran peasants were sharecroppers. They had to grow indigo on 15 per cent of the land and give it to the English estate owners as rent.
Q3. How did the development of synthetic indigo affect the English estate owners and the Indian tenants?
ANSWER: The English estate owners saw that indigo cultivation was no longer profitable.Ihey wanted money from the sharecroppers as compensation for being released from the 15 per cent arrangement. They obtained agreements from their tenants to this effect and extorted money illegally and deceitfully.
Q4. How did the Indian peasants react to the new agreement released them from sharecropping arrangement?
ANSWER: The sharecropping arrangement was troublesome to the peasants. Many of them signed the new agreement willingly. Some resisted and engaged lawyers. Then they came to know about synthetic indigo. The peasants wanted their money back.
Q5. Why do you think Gandhi was not permitted to draw water from Rajendra Prasad’s well at Patna?
ANSWER: The servants of Rajendra Prasad thought Gandhi to be another peasant. They did not know him. They were not certain whether he was an untouchable or not. They feared that some drops from his bucket might pollute the entire well. So, he was not permitted to draw water from the well.
Q6. Why did Gandhi decide to go first to Muzaffarpur before going to Champaran:
ANSWER: Gandhi wanted to obtain more complete information about conditions than Shukla was capable of imparting. Muzaffarpur lawyers, who frequently represented peasant groups in courts, brief Gandhi about their cases.
Q7. Why did Gandhi chide the lawyers? What according to him was the real relief for the sharecroppers?
ANSWER: Gandhi chided the lawyers for collecting big fee from the poor sharecroppers. He thought that taking such cases to the court did little good to the crushed and fear-stricken peasants. The relief for them, according to Gandhi, was to be free from fear.
Q8. How did Ga n dhi begin his mission in Champaran ? How far did his efforts prove successful ?
ANSWER: He began by trying to get the facts. First, he visited the secretary of the British landlord’s association. He told Gandhi that they could give no information to an outsider. Then Gandhi called on the British official commissioner of the Tirhut Division. The commissioner tried to bully Gandhi and advised him to leave Tirhut.
Q9. How did Gandhi react to the commissioner’s advice? Where did he go and how did people react to his arrival?
ANSWER: Gandhiji did not leave Tirhut division. Instead, he went to Motihari, the capital of Champaran. Several lawyers accompanied him. At the railway station, a very large crowd of people greeted Gandhi.
Q10. Where did Gandhiji want to go? What happened to him on the way?
ANSWER: Gandhiji wanted to go to a nearby village where a peasant had been maltreated. He had not gone far when the police superintendent’s messenger overtook him and ordered him to return to town in his carriage. Gandhiji obeyed the order and returned with him.
Q11. ‘In consequence, Gandhi received a summons to appear in the court next day.’Which events of the previous day led to this state of affairs?
ANSWER: The police superintendent’s messenger served an official notice on Gandhi. It ordered him to quit Champaran immediately. Gandhi signed a receipt for the notice. He wrote on the receipt that he would disobey the order. Hence, he was summoned to appear in the court.
Q12. What according to Gandhi was the beginning of the poor peasants’ ‘Liberation front fear of the British’ ?
ANSWER: The next morning the town of Motihari was black with peasants. They had heard that a Mahatma who wanted to help them was in trouble with the authorities. They spontaneously demonstrated, in thousands, arround the courthouse. Gandhiji called their action of protest as their liberation from fear of the British.
Q13. Why did Gandhiji feel that taking the Champaran case to the court was useless?[Delhi 2014]
ANSWER: Gandhiji felt that taking the Champaran case to the court was useless. Because the real relief for the peasants would come only when they become fearless. The peasants were in acute panic.
Q14. What was the “conflict of duties” in which Gandhi was involved?
ANSWER: First, he did not want to set a bad example as a law breaker. Second, he wanted to render the “humanitarian and national service” for which he had come. He respected the lawful authority, but disregarded the order to leave to obey the voice of his conscience.
Q15. What according to Rajendra Prasad, was the upshot of the consultations of the lawyers regarding the injustice to sharecroppers?
ANSWER: They thought that Gandhi was a total stranger. Yet he was ready to go to prison for the sake of the peasants. On the other hand, the lawyers were the residents of nearby districts. They also claimed to have served these peasants. It would be shameful desertion if they should go home then.
Q16. “Civil disobedience had triumphed, the first time in modern India.” How?
ANSWER: A case against Gandhi was initiated for disregarding government orders. The spontaneous demonstration of thousands of peasants baffled the officials. The judge was requested to postpone the trial. Gandhi refused to furnish bail. The judge released him without bail. Several days later Gandhi received an official letter. The case against him had been dropped. Thus, civil disobedience had triumphed.
Q17. What do you think, led Gandhi to exclaim “The battle of Champaran is won”?
ANSWER: Gandhi was ready to go to jail fighting against the injustice to the sharecroppers. Many prominent lawyers had come from all over Bihar to advise and help him. At first, they said they would go back if Gandhi went to prison. Later, they had consultations. They told Gandhi they were ready to follow him into jail. This support made Gandhi extremely happy and confident. This confidence led him to exclaim that the battle of Champaran was won.
Q18. How did Gandhi and the lawyers try to secure justice for the sharecroppers?
ANSWER: They started conducting a detailed enquiry into the grievances of the peasants. Depositions by about ten thousand peasants were written down. Notes were made on other evidence. Documents were collected. The whole area came alive with the activities of the investigators. The landlords raised loud protests.
Q19. What was the reaction of Gandhi and his associates when he was summoned to the lieutenant governor?
ANSWER: In June, Gandhiji was summoned to Sir Edward Gait, the Lieutenant Governor. Anything could happen. Gandhi met his leading associates before going. Detailed plans for civil disobedience were chalked out in case he should not return.
Q20. What was the outcome of the four protracted interviews Gandhiji had with the Lieutenant Governor?
ANSWER: An official commission of enquiry into the sharecroppers’ situation was appointed. This commission consisted of landlords, government officials and Gandhi as the sole representative of the peasants.
Q21. Why did the big planters agree in principle to make refund to the peasants?
ANSWER: The official inquiry assembled a huge quantity of evidence against the big planters. The crushing evidence forced the big planters to agree in principle to make refund to the peasants.
Q22. What amount of repayment did the big planters think Gandhi would demand? What did Gandhi ask? What amount was finally settled?
ANSWER: They thought Gandhi would demand repayment in full of the money they had extorted from the sharecroppers. Gandhi asked only 50 per cent. The planters offered to refund up to 25 per cent. Gandhi was adamant on 50 per cent. The deadlock was broken when Gandhi agreed to a settlement of 25 per cent refund to peasants.
Q23. HQW did the refund-settlement influence the peasant-landlord relationship in Champaran?
ANSWER: Before the settlement of the refund, the planters had behaved as lords above the law. Now the peasant saw that he had rights and defenders. He learned courage. Within a few years, the British planters abandoned their estates. The peasants became masters of the land. There were no sharecropers now.
Q24. Which other spheres besides political or economic fields received Gandhi’s attention during his long stay in Champaran?
ANSWER: The cultural and social backwardness of the Champaran areas pained Gandhi. He appealed for teachers. Several persons responded to his call. Primary schools were opened in six villages. Kasturba taught the ashram rules on personal cleanliness and community sanitation. With the help of a doctor and three medicines, they tried to fight the miserable health conditions.
Q25.“This was typical Gandhi pattern” observes Louis Fischer. What do you learn about Gandhian politics from the extract ‘Indigo’?
ANSWER: Gandhi’s politics was intermixed with the practical, everyday life of the millions of Indians. This was not a loyalty to abstractions. It was a loyalty to living human beings. In everything Gandhi did, he tried to mould a new free Indian who could stand on his own feet and thus make India free.
Q26. How did Gandhi teach his followers a lesson of self-reliance?
ANSWER: During the Champaran action, Gandhi’s lawyer friends thought it would be good if C.F. Andrews stayed on in Champaran and helped them. Gandhi opposed this idea as it showed the weakness of their heart. Their cause was just and they must rely upon themselves to win this unequal fight. They should not seek the support of Mr Andrews because he happened to be an Englishman.
Long Answer Type Question:
Q1. What solution to the problems of the poor did Gandhi suggest? How far did the Champaran movement help in this direction?
OR
“The real relief for them is to be free from fear”, remarked Gandhi. What do you think, was “the beginning of their liberation from the fear of the British” ?
ANSWER: The sharecropper peasants had to grow indigo on 15 per cent of their holdings and surrender the indigo harvest as rent to the landlord. When Germany developed synthetic indigo, the British planters started extracting money illegally and deceitfully as compensation from the peasants for being released from the 15 per cent arrangement. The peasants were made to sign new agreements and pay money. The planters behaved as lords above the law. Many peasants engaged lawyers at hefty fees and went to courts.
The Muzaffarpur lawyers briefed Gandhi about the peasants for whom they frequently represented in courts. Gandhi realised that these peasants were badly crushed and fear- stricken. Freedom from fear was more important than legal justice for them. Gandhiji was ready to court arrest for them. Thousands of peasants demonstrated spontaneously around the court. The government had to release Gandhi without bail. This voluntary uprising of the peasants marked the beginning of their liberation from the fear of the British.
Q2. Why was Gandhi summoned to appear in the court? How did he gain his liberty ?
OR
‘Civil disobedience had triumphed, the first time in modern India.’Relate the events during Gandhi’s stay in Champaran that led to the triumph.
ANSWER: Gandhi had reached Motihari, the Capital of Champaran, to study the problems of the sharecropper peasants. He was on his way to a neighbouring village, where a peasant was ill-treated. On the way, he was stopped by the police superintendent’s messenger and ordered to return to town. When he reached home, he was served with an official notice to quit Champaran at once. Gandhi wrote on the receipt that he would disobey the order. So Gandhi received a summons to appear in the court the next day.
Next morning the town of Motihari was black with peasants. Thousands of peasants demonstrated voluntarily outside the court. The prosecutor requested the judge to postpone the trial. Gandhi protested against the delay. He read out a statement pleading guilty. He asked the penalty. The judge announced that he would pronounce the sentence after a two-hour recess. He asked Gandhi to furnish bail for that period. Gandhi refused. The judge released him without bail. After the recess, the judge said that he would not deliver the judgement for several days. Meanwhile he allowed Gandhi to remain at liberty.
Several days later Gandhi received a letter. The case against him had been dropped. Thus, civil disobedience had triumphed, for the first time in India.
Q3. Give an account of Gandhi’s efforts to secure justice for the poor indigo sharecroppers of Champaran.
OR
“Indigo sharecropping disappeared.” Which factors do you think, helped to achieve freedom for the fear-stricken peasants of Champaran?
ANSWER: Gandhi went to Champaran on receiving reports of exploitation of the poor sharecropper peasants at the hands of British planters. He began by trying to get the facts. The British landlords as well as the Commissioner of Tirhut were non-cooperative. Lawyers from MuZaffarpur briefed him about the court cases of these peasants.
Gandhi and the lawyers collected depositions by about ten thousand peasants. Notes were made on other evidence. Documents were collected. The whole area throbbed with the activities of the investigators and forceful protests of landlords.
The lieutenant governor summoned Gandhi. After four protracted interviews an official commission of inquiry was appointed to look into the indigo sharecroppers’ condition. Gandhi was the sole representative of the peasants. The official inquiry assembled huge quantity of evidence against the big planters. They agreed, in principle, to make refunds to the peasants. After consultation, a settlement of 25 per cent refund to the farmers was agreed on. This was a moral victory of the peasants. They recognised their rights and learned courage.
Within a few years the British planters gave up their estates. These now went back to the peasants. They became the masters of land. Thus, indigo sharecropping disappeared.
Q4. How did Gandhi work for rural uplift during his stay in Champarant
ANSWER: Gandhi wanted to do something to remove the cultural and social backwardness in Champaran villages. He appealed for teachers. Two young disciples of Gandhi, Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh and their wives volunteered themselves for work. Several others responded from distant parts of the country. Mrs. Kasturba Gandhi and Devdas, Gandhi’s youngest son, arrived from the Ashram. Primary schools were opened in six villages. Kasturba taught the ashram rules on personal cleanliness and community cleanliness. She also talked to women about their filthy clothes.
Health conditions were miserable. Gandhi got a doctor to volunteer his services for six months. Only three medicines were available: Castor oil, quinine and sulphur ointment. Anyone who showed a coated tongue was given a dose of castor oil; anybody with malaria fever received quinine plus castor oil; anybody with skin eruptions received ointment plus caster oil.
Thus, Gandhi never contented himself with large political or economic solutions. He worked for total uplift of villages and the poor sections of the society.
Q5. ‘Self-reliance, Indian independence and help to sharecroppers were all bound together.’ Elucidate on the basis of reading ‘Indigo’ by Louis Fischer.
OR
‘The Champaran episode was a turning-point in Gandhi’s life. Explain with examples from ‘Indigo’ by Louis Fischer.
ANSWER: Gandhi stayed in Champaran for a long time. The Champaran episode was a turning point in his life. It was during this struggle in 1917 that he decided to urge the departure of the British.
Champaran episode did not begin as an act of defiance. It grew out of an attempt to make the sufferings of large numbers of poor peasants less severe. Gandhi concentrated on their practical day to day problems. He analysed the root cause of the problem-fear, and tried to eradicate it. The voluntary demonstration of the poor peasants against the government for putting Gandhi in trouble was the beginning of the end of their fear of the British.
In everything Gandhi did, he tried to mould a new free Indian who could stand on his own feet and thus make India free. He taught his lawyer friends a lesson in self-reliance by opposing the involvement of C.F. Andrews, an Englishman in .their unequal fight. His help would be a prop. This would reflect their weakness. Their cause was just and they must rely on themselves to win the battle. Thus self-reliance, Indian independence and help to sharecroppers were all bound together.
Q6. Justify the appropriateness of the title ‘Indigo’ to this extract.
ANSWER: The title ‘Indigo’ is quite appropriate, to the point and suggestive. It at once focuses our * attention on the central issue-the exploitation of the indigo sharecropper peasants at the hands of cruel British planters. They compelled them through a long term agreement to raise indigo on 15 per cent of their landholding and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent.
After the development of synthetic indigo by Germany, the British planters extracted money from the peasants as compensation for being released from the 15 per cent agreement. The peasants who wanted their money back had filed civil suits. The planters who behaved as lords above the law and were dreaded by the poor were obliged to surrender part of money and with it part of their prestige.
The extract also points out the work done by Gandhi and his associates to improve the economic, political, cultural and social fife of the indigo sharecroppers. Their education, health and hygiene also received due attention. The plight of indigo sharecroppers, then- struggle under Gandhi’s leadership and ultimate victory when Indigo sharecropping disappeared from important landmarks. Thus, the title ‘Indigo’ is highly suggestive and apt.
Q7. What impression do you form about Gandhi on reading the chapter ‘Indigo’ ?
ANSWER: The chapter ‘Indigo’ pays a tribute to the leadership shown by Mahatma Gandhi to secure justice for oppressed people through convincing argumentation and negotiation. Gandhi had a magnetic attraction and great persuasive power. He could draw people of all classes to himself and make them partners in the freedom movement. Even ordinary people were inspired to make contribution to the freedom movement.
Gandhi emerges as a champion of the downtrodden and the oppressed. Rural uplift was his favourite programme. His knowledge of legal procedure and respect for law is also highlighted. He does not want to be a lawbreaker. At the same time he wants to render the humanitarian and national service in obedience to the higher law of our being, the voice of conscience. He also appears as a polite and friendly person. Gandhi’s ability to read the minds of others made them speechless. He believed in self-reliance, just cause and purity of means to achieve India’s Independence.
Q8. Why is the Champaran episode considered to be the beginning of the Indian struggle for Independence? [All India 2014]
ANSWER: The Champaran episode began as an attempt to ease the sufferings of a large number of ’ peasants. He got spontaneous support of thousands of people. Gandhi declared that the British could not order him about in his own country. Under his leadership, the peasants became aware of their rights. Raj Kumar Shukla, a farmer of Champaran helped him a lot in bringing about the change. Other peasants too fought courageously and contributed in their own way to the movement. It resulted in their winning the battle of Champaran. The effects of Gandhi’s method of non-violence and non-cooperation proved very fruitful in this movement. Hence, it can be said that the Champaran episode is the beginning of the Indian struggle for independence.