CUET English Chapter For Comprehension-Indigo

Rajkumar Shukla was a man with a b will power and determination. He had come all the way from Champaran district to Lucknow to speak to Gandhiji. He accompanied Gandhiji everywhere, even to the ashram near Ahmedabad. For weeks he never left Gandhiji’s side till he asked him to meet him at Calcutta.

Shukla took Gandhiji to Rajendra Prasad’s house as a poor yeoman. Gandhi was dressed in a simple dhoti and was accompanying a poor peasant. Hence the servants mistook him to be a peasant.

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.

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.

Gandhiji opposed unjust laws. His politics was intermingled with the day to day problems of millions of Indians. He was willing to oppose the unjust laws and got to jail. The famous Dandi March is an example of his law-breaking action. He broke the salt law. His disobedience was always peaceful and a fight for truth and justice. This had a direct link to his ideas of Satyagraha and non-violence.

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 pf 25 percent refund to the farmers.

The peasants were saved from spending time and money on court cases. After some years the British planters gave up control of their estates. These now reverted to the peasants, indigo sharecropping disappeared.

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.

Gandhi asked the lawyers what they would do if he was sentenced to prison. They said that they had come to advise him. If he went to jail, they would return. Then Gandhi asked them about the injustice to the sharecroppers. The lawyers held consultations. They concluded that it would be a shameful desertion if they returned home. So they told Gandhi that they were ready to follow him into jail.

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.

Gandhi was received by Professor J.B Kriplani at Muzaffarpur railway station at midnight. He had a large body of students with him. Sharecroppers from Champaran came on foot and by transport to see Gandhi. The lawyers at Muzaffarpur also 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 also contributed to the freedom movement.

Most of the arable land in Champaran belonged to the English landlords who had signed a long term contract with the peasants. The farmers planted 15% of their holdings with indigo and surrendered it as rent. With the development of synthetic indigo, its cultivation was no longer profitable. The landlords wanted to release the peasants of the contract and take money from them as compensation.

When Gandhi arrived in Champaran, he first set out to ascertain the facts. He wanted the viewpoints of the landlords and the peasants. He visited the secretary of the British Landlords Association to get to know their point of views. The secretary told him that he could give no information to an outsider. Gandhi’s efforts proved futile.

To understand the situation at Champaran, Gandhi wanted the viewpoints of the landlords and the peasants. The secretary of the British landlords association refused to impart any information. Gandhi, then, called on the British official commissioner of the Tirhut division. The commissioner bullied Gandhi and advised him to leave Tirhut.

In court, Gandhi pleaded guilty for having disobeyed the official notice to quit Champaran. He read out a statement claiming he was involved in a conflict of duties. He clarified that he disobeyed not to break law and set a bad example but to render the humanitarian and national services for which he had come to Champaran.

Gandhi aimed at improving Champaran culturally and socially. The problems were many. Health conditions were miserable. There was poverty, illiteracy and lack of sanitation. So he stayed on even after the sharecropper’s problems were solved.

Charles Freer Andrews, the English pacifist and follower of Gandhi came to bid him farewell. Gandhi’s lawyer friends asked Andrews to stay on and support them. Gandhi vehemently opposed the suggestion and asked them to face the crisis independently. If their cause was just, Gandhi said, they would win the battle by relying on themselves.

ESSAY TYPE QUESTIONS

The poor peasants were ruthlessly exploited by the landlords of Champaran. Germany had developed synthetic indigo which resulted in a steep fall in indigo prices. The landlords had a long term contract by which peasants grew indigo in 15% land and handed it over as rent. The landlords no longer needed indigo and very cleverly wished to give up this arrangement for compensation. When the news of synthetic indigo reached the peasants, they demanded their money back and engaged lawyers to fight their battles. There was no respite for the farmers under the unjust system.

When Gandhi came to Champaran, he realised that the fear stricken peasants got no help from courts. The real relief for them was to be free from fear of the British. Gandhi was summoned to appear in court for having refused the official notice to quit Champaran. The news of Gandhi being in trouble with the authorities spread fast. The peasants gathered in thousands around the court house. They shook off the8ir fear and held demonstrations. The officials were baffled and helpless.

This voluntary uprising of the peasants was their liberation from fear. For them, the British power was no longer unchallengeable. This was made important than legal justice as revealed in the future events.

Gandhi visited Champaran to look into the problems of the poor peasants. At Motihari, he was greeted by thousands of peasants. This was the beginning of the peasant liberation from fear of the British. A peasant had been maltreated in a nearby village. Gandhi set out to see him. The police superintendent’s messenger overtook him and ordered him to return. Gandhi complied. At home, he was served an official notice to quit Champaran. Gandhi signed the receipt and wrote on it that would disobey the order. This was the beginning of Civil disobedience.

Gandhi received summons to appear in court the next day. The peasants thronged the courtroom. They wanted to help the ‘Mahatma’ who was in trouble with the authorities for trying to help them. The officials were powerless. Gandhi helped them regulate the crowd. This baffled the officials.

The magistrate postponed announcing the sentence by two hours and asked Gandhi to furnish bail. Gandhi declined. The judge released him without bail. The judge said he would not deliver the judgment for several days. Later, the case was dropped by the Lt. Governor himself. Civil disobedience had triumphed.

The chapter ‘Indigo’ highlights the greatness of Gandhiji who was simple, unassuming and yet a force to be reckoned with. His humility is revealed by his comment on the victory of civil disobedience ‘What I did was a very ordinary thing’. He was mistaken as a peasant by Dr. Rajendra attitude.

At the same time, Gandhi was firm and resolute. He faced the officials and with conviction disregarded the orders to leave Champaran. The case against him had to be dropped.

He fearlessly faced four protracted interviews with the Lt. Governor for the justice of the indigo sharecroppers. Even though he was the sole representative of the peasants, he proved his point. He broke the deadlock settling for only 25% refund. He was wise and judicious. He agreed because the refund instilled courage in the peasants as the landlords were obliged to surrender part of their money and prestige.

Gandhi demonstrated by his actions an important lesson of self reliance in the freedom struggle. He refused the help of Mr. Andrews and claimed that if the cause was just one must rely on oneself.

d) December 1916

a) To attend the annual convention of the INC

b) Rajkumar Shukla

a) Patna

b) Rajendra Prasad

c) Muzaffarpur

b) J.B Kriplani

a) Condoned

a) Cawnpore, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Patna, Muzaffarpur

b) Indigo

c) Money as compensation

a) Prices of natural indigo would go down

b) In the foothills of the Himalayas in Bihar

d) Indigo

a) Servant thought Gandhi was another peasant

b) He tried to get the facts

c) The secretary said that they could not give any information to an outsider

a) To leave Tirhut

b) Motihari

c) Several lawyers

a) A peasant had been maltreated in a village nearby

b) An official notice

c) He said that he would disobey the order

a) The people gathered in large numbers

d) 120

a) Had been dropped

b) Lawyers

c) About ten thousand

a) Sir Edward Gait

a) Four times

a) Repayment in full

b) An official commission of inquiry was appointed

d) Seven months

c) 50

d) 25

a) To remove the cultural and social backwardness

a) Two disciples of Gandhi and their wives

c) Personal cleanliness

a) Miserable

b) Self reliance