CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo Indigo Assignment Set B

About the Author

Louis Fischer (1896 – 1970) was a Jewish-American journalist. Among his works were a contribution to the ex-Communist treatise The God that Failed (1949), Life of Mahatma Gandhi (1982), as well as Life of Lenin, which won the 1965 National Book Award in History and Biography. The following is an excerpt from his book The Life of Mahatma Gandhi. The book has been reviewed as one of the best books ever written on Gandhi by Times Educational supplement.

Theme

The leadership shown by Mahatma Gandhi to secure justice for oppressed people through convincing argumentation and negotiation.

Justification of the Title

The title ‘Indigo’ focuses our attention on the issue of exploitation of indigo sharecroppers at the hands of cruel British planters. The British compelled them through a long term agreement to plant indigo on 15 per cent of their land and surrender the entire 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 filed civil suits. Rajkumar Shukla persuaded Gandhi to take up the case of Indigo sharecroppers. So indigo sharecropping exemplifies the injustice of the British and the Indians’ submission to British authority. The Champaran movement that centred on indigo sharecropping led to social and cultural upliftment of the peasants. Thus, the title ‘Indigo’ is highly suggestive and appropriate.

Message

The story ‘Indigo’ highlights the unequal economic system that existed during colonial British rule. It resulted in Indian peasants suffering, while the British planters exploited them. It also highlights the importance of Gandhi’s decision to take up their case, which exposed the unjust system.

Summary

Indigo is written by Louis Fischer, who narrates Gandhiji’s struggle at Champaran for the poor people. The peasants at Champaran were sharecroppers with the British planters. The peasants produced Indigo on 15% of the land area and according to an old agreement, they had to give it as rent to the landlords. It was around 1917, the Germans started developing synthetic Indigo and this mitigated the requirement of Indigo for British planters. In order to release the peasants from the 15 per cent old agreement, the British landlords demanded compensation from them. Most of the illiterate peasants agreed to it except a few. During that period, Gandhiji appeared in Champaran.

He looked into the matter, stood by the side of the poor peasants and fought a long battle of one year, managing to get justice for them. This made the peasants courageous and made them aware of their fundamental rights. Gandhiji’s work at Champaran wasn’t just confined to political or economic struggle. He also worked on social issues like arrangements for education, health and hygiene for the families of the poor peasants. He taught them lessons of self-reliance and self-dependence.

CHAPTER IN A NUTSHELL

Role of Rajkumar Shukla
1. Poor, emaciated peasant from Champaran.
2. Contacted Gandhi in 1916 in Lucknow.
3. Gandhi dismissed him.
4. Shukla came to complain about the injustice and the landlord system in Bihar.
5. Shukla followed Gandhi to Cawnpore later at Calcutta.
6. Impressed by the sharecroppers tenacity and story Gandhi relented.

The Issue
1. Arable land in Champaran divided into estates owned by Englishmen, worked by Indian tenants.
2. Chief commercial crop indigo.
3. Tenants to plant on 15% indigo.
4. To surrender entire indigo as rent.
5. Synthetic indigo in market.
6. Landlords force new agreements.
7. Ask for 15% compensation.
8. Peasants resist, widespread unrest.

How Gandhi reached Champaran
1. Went to Muzaffarpur with Shukla.
2. Obtained complete information.
3. Discussed with Kriplani.
4. Met lawyers, chided them, understood legal angle.
5. Met peasants sensed unrest.
6. Realised peasant fear-striken.
7. Feels he should arm them with the tool of courage, fearlessness.

Role of Lawyers
1. They represented cases in courts, collected fee.
2. Gandhi criticised them for duping/misguiding the peasants.
3. They gave legal support.
4. However, they were non-committed if he was arrested.
5. Gandhi appealed for justice for sharecroppers when arrested.
6. Lawyers feel guilty of desertion.
7. They supported Gandhi’s Civil Disobedience Movement.
8. They helped him file grievances against landlords.

Steps taken by Gandhi
1. Approached British landlord association.
2. Commissioner, cold shouldered.
3. Proceeded to Motihari, got mass support from peasants, continued investigation.
4. Served official notice to leave Champaran.
5. Signed, said would disobey the order.
6. Served summons, Motihari black with peasants.
7. Peasants demonstrate outside courtroom.
8. Officials powerless, government baffled.
9. Gandhi was encouraged by mass support.
10. Court arrest, says obeying voice of conscience.
11. Convinces lawyers to join movement.
12. Continues to collect legal evidence.
13. Government forced to set up Inquiry Commission.
14. Meeting, deadlock over compensation.
15. Agrees to 25%, landlords learned they were not above the law, peasants got courage.
16. Battle of Champaran won.

Qualities of Gandhi
1. Appreciates loyalty/commitment.
2. Understands the issue e.g., meets Kriplani/ lawyers/peasants.
3. Connects with masses.
4. Organised e.g., civil disobedience plan.
5. Fair leader e.g. won lawyers’ support.
6. Visionary e.g., improves social, cultural backwardness of Champaran.

Read the extracts given below and attempt the  questions that follow:

1. When I first visited Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in Sevagram, in central India, he said, “I will tell you how it happened that I decided to urge the
departure of the British. It was in 1917.” He had gone to the December 1916 annual convention of the Indian National Congress party in Lucknow. There were 2,301 delegates and many visitors.
During the proceedings, Gandhi recounted, “a peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant in India, poor and emaciated, and said,
‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. I am from Champaran, and I want you to come to my district’!’’ Gandhi had never heard of the place. It was in the foothills of the towering Himalayas, near the kingdom of Nepal.

Questions

(i) Gandhi had decided to urge the departure of the British. Which episode in his life does he refer to here?
(a) His forming the Natal Indian Congress in Africa.
(b) His Satyagraha Movement.
(c) The Champaran Sharecroppers Movement.
(d) The Quit India Movement.

Answer: C

(ii) Who came to see Gandhi at the annual convention in 1916 of the Indian National Congress Party?
(a) Jawaharlal Nehru
(b) Kriplani
(c) Rajkumar Shukla
(d) Rajendra Prasad

Answer: C

(iii) What did the poor peasant want from Gandhi?
(a) To go with him to Champaran.
(b) To travel with Gandhi.
(c) To be Gandhi’s man-servant.
(d) To help Gandhi in his work.

Answer: A

(iv) What personality of Shukla impressed Gandhi that he visited Champaran with him?
(a) Shukla was irritating.
(b) Shukla was very demanding.
(c) Shukla was resolute.
(d) Shukla was a coward.

Answer: C

(v) What picture of peasants all over the country is represented in the extract?
Answer: The extract reflects that the Indian peasants are generally poor and emaciated.

(vi) The person indicated as ‘I’ in the first line of the extract is ....
(a) Raj Kumar Shukla
(b) Louis Fischer
(c) Gandhiji
(d) J.B. Kriplani

Answer: B

2. They thought he would demand repayment in full of the money which they had illegally and deceitfully extorted from the sharecroppers. He asked only 50 per cent. “There he seemed adamant,” writes Reverend J.Z. Hodge, a British missionary in Champaran who observed the entire episode at close range. “Thinking probably that he would not give way, the representative of the planters offered to refund to the extent of 25 per cent, and to his amazement Mr. Gandhi took him at his word, thus breaking the deadlock.”
This settlement was adopted unanimously by the commission.

Questions

(i) Gandhi knew that he would not get an agreement on the demand for 50% repayment.
Choose the option that offers the correct justification for the assumption made above.
(a) He had anticipated the negotiating tactics of the planter’s representative.
(b) He had been informed about the depleting funds of the planters.
(c) He had taken the advice of the Reverend on board.
(d) He had evaluated the commission’s attitude towards Indians.

Answer: A

(ii) Following are four real-life situations.
Choose the option that perfectly describes a deadlock.

(a) Situation 1
(b) Situation 2
(c) Situation 3
(d) Situation 4

Answer: B

(iii) Based on the given context, choose the option that exemplifies a deceitful extortion, out of the examples given below.
1. The artisans demonstrated for their rights, peacefully, on the streets.
2. The head of the artisan union pretended to address all the problems faced by them.
3. The head of the artisan union came with goons and took all the assets of the poor artisans.
4. The artisans in Hafrgunj decided to sell their wares directly to the government outlets
(a) Option 1
(b) Option 2
(c) Option 3
(d) Option 4

Answer: C

(iv) The deadlock broke because
(a) Gandhi’s settlement offer was worth considering.
(b) All commission members agreed to adopt the representative’s offer.
(c) Reverend J.Z. Hodge’s intervention brought both parties together.
(d) The sharecroppers refused to be convinced by the commission.

Answer: B

(v) What character of Gandhi is reflected in the extract?
(a) He was an excellent negotiator.
(b) He never missed the opportunity to settle the issue.
(c) He was never cooperative with the British officials.
(d) Both (a) and (b)

Answer: D

(vi) Who does ‘they’ refer to in the first line of the extract?
Answer: In the first line of the extract ‘they’ refers to the British planters

3. The news of Gandhi’s advent and of the nature of his mission spread quickly through Muzzafarpur and to Champaran. Sharecroppers from Champaran began arriving on foot and by conveyance to see their champion. Muzzafarpur lawyers called on Gandhi to brief him; they frequently represented peasant groups in court; they told him about their cases and reported the size of their fee. Gandhi chided the lawyers for collecting big fee from the sharecroppers. He said, ‘‘I have come to the conclusion that we should stop going to law courts. Taking such cases to the courts does little good. Where the peasants are so crushed and fear-stricken, law courts are useless. The real relief for them is to be free from fear.’’

Questions

(i) Why did sharecroppes from Champaran come to Muzzafarpur?
(a) Everyone wanted to see the newcomer.
(b) Gandhi was put in prison the moment he arrived in Muzzafarpur.
(c) Gandhi made a request of wanting to talk to the sharecroppers.
(d) The sharecroppers wanted to see their champion who would fight for them.

Answer: D

(ii) Why did the Muzzafarpur lawyers think it was necessary to meet Gandhi?
(a) To brief him about their cases and the size of their fee.
(b) To welcome Gandhi into their lawyer’s club as he was a lawyer.
(c) To tell Gandhi about the British landlord and the sharecropping method.
(d) To ask Gandhi what he intended to do for the sharecroppers.

Answer: A

(iii) Why was Gandhi not happy with the lawyers?
(a) They were doing nothing to help the sharecroppers.
(b) They were collecting big fees from the sharecroppers.
(c) They could not get along with the sharecroppers.
(d) The sharecroppers had a lot of complaints about the lawyers.

Answer: B

(iv) Why did Gandhi think that taking these cases to court did little good?
(a) These were the cases that could not be fought about.
(b) The lawyers found these cases too baffling.
(c) The peasants were so crushed and fearstricken that law courts were useless.
(d) The peasants were only spending money and getting no results.

Answer: C

(v) How did Gandhi react on hearing the fees received from the peasants?
Answer: When Gandhi heard that the lawyers had taken fees from the peasants, he chided them.

(vi) How did the peasants refer to Gandhi?
(a) Mahatma
(b) Bapu
(c) Gandhi ji
(d) Mohandas

Answer: A

4. Most of the arable land in the 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 three twentieths or 15 per cent of their holdings with indigo and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. This was done by long-term contract. Presently, the landlords learned that Germany had developed synthetic indigo. They, thereupon, obtained agreements from the sharecroppers to pay them compensation for being released from the 15 per cent arrangement.

Questions

(i) How were the estates of Chamaparan managed?
(a) By sharecropping.
(b) By growing indigo.
(c) By the government.
(d) By big companies.

Answer: A

(ii) How did the tenants pay their rent to the landlords?
(a) They paid the monthly due by cash.
(b) They gave 15% of the crop they grew to the landlords.
(c) They grew indigo on 15% of their holdings and gave the whole indigo harvest as rent. 
(d) They shared 50% of the crop with the landlord.

Answer: C

(iii) Why did the landlords no longer want them to grow indigo?
(a) People were no longer interested in indigo.
(b) Germany had developed synthetic indigo.
(c) Indigo cultivation was very difficult.
(d) Farmers all over the world started growng indigo.

Answer: B

(iv) How did the sharecroppers get released from growing indigo?
(a) The landlords asked them not to grow indigo anymore.
(b) Settlement made between the British and Gandhi.
(c) Excess rain started spoiling the crops.
(d) The sharecroppers paid compensation to the landlords.

Answer: B

(v) What was peculiar about the arable lands of Champaran?
(a) Indigo was cultivated on the entire land.
(b) Indigo was cultivated on 15% of the contract lands.
(c) Only the small farmers were involved in the indigo cultivation.
(d) The British never allowed the tenants to cultivate indigo on the contract lands.

Answer: B

(vi) What was unfair about the agreements obtained by the planters from the sharecroppers?
Answer: The sharecroppers were forced to grow indigo, which was not fair.

5. But Champaran did not begin as an act of defiance. It grew out of an attempt to alleviate the distress of large numbers of poor peasants. This was the typical Gandhi pattern — his politics were intertwined with the practical, day-to-day problems of the millions. His was not a loyalty to abstractions; it was a loyalty to living, human beings. In everything Gandhi did, moreover, he tried to mould a new free Indian who could stand on his own feet and thus make India free.

Questions

(i) Choose the option listing the sentence that is the most appropriate example of an ‘act of defiance’, from the following:
She picked up the telephone terrified of what was about to come. She could hear nobody on the other side. Meanwhile, there was a thud at the door loud enough to scare her. Curious as she was, she wanted to open it as soon as possible. Her mother tried to stop her several times, but she went ahead, nevertheless.
(a) She picked up the telephone terrified of what was about to come.
(b) Meanwhile, there was a thud at the door loud enough to scare her.
(c) Curious as she was, she wanted to open it as soon as possible.
(d) Her mother tried to stop her several times but she went ahead nevertheless.

Answer: D

(ii) Choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below.
Statement 1: His was not a loyalty to abstractions; it was a loyalty to living, human beings.
Statement 2: Gandhi was a humanitarian at heart.
(a) Statement 1 is the cause of Statement 2.
(b) Statement 2 is the effect of Statement 1.
(c) Statement 2 can be inferred from Statement 1.
(d) Statement 1 and Statement 2 are independent of each other.

Answer: C

(iii) The given extract DOES NOT talk about
(a) details of the daily problems faced by human beings.
(b) efforts to relieve suffering of the common people.
(c) the reason for the occurrence of Champaran.
(d) Gandhi’s principles in the field of politics.

Answer: A

(iv) Which option showcases an example of action (A) result (R) from the passage?

(a) Option 1
(b) Option 2
(c) Option 3
(d) Option 4

Answer: B

(v) Why is Champaran famous?
Answer: Champaran is famous for the first Satyagrah Movement in 1917.

(vi) Tick the philosophy that Gandhiji did not ascribe to—
(a) upliftment of the poor
(b) establishing schools for the illiterate masses
(c) enhancing the health and hygiene
(d) using villagers to portray his power and status

Answer: D

6. Gandhi had four protracted interviews with the Lieutenant-Governor who, as a result, appointed an official commission of inquiry into the indigo sharecroppers’ situation. The commission consisted of landlords, government officials, and Gandhi as the sole representative of the peasants. Gandhi remained in Champaran for an initial uninterrupted period of seven months and then again for several shorter visits. The visit, undertaken casually on the entreaty of an unlettered peasant in the expectation that it would last a few days, occupied almost a year of Gandhi’s life. The official inquiry assembled a crushing mountain of evidence against the big planters, and when they saw this they agreed, in principle, to make refunds to the peasants. “But how much must we pay?” they asked Gandhi.”

Questions

(i) What did the Governor do after four protracted interviews with the Lieutenant-Governor?
(a) He appointed an official commission of inquiry into the indigo situation.
(b) He assured Gandhi that he would talk tothe landlords.
(c) He called the landlords to have a talk with them.
(d) He asked the landlords to come to a better understanding with the tenants.

Answer: A

(ii) Who represented the peasants in the commission which was appointed Lieutenant-Governor?
Answer: Gandhi alone represented that commission

(iii) What evidence did the official inquiry bring out?
(a) The farmers had not paid any commission to the landlords.
(b) The landlords had indeed exploited the sharecroppers.
(c) The sharecroppers did not want to be released from growing indigo.
(d) The landlords and the sharecroppers had their vested interest.

Answer: B

(iv) How much refund did Gandhi agree to?
(a) The complete 100% of the commissoin
(b) 75% of the commission
(c) 50% of the commission
(d) 25% of the commission

Answer: D

(v) Gandhi represented the peasants in the inquiry because:
(a) the peasants had faith in him.
(b) he himself was a lawyer.
(c) he was a mass leader.
(d) he could speak better English.

Answer: A

(vi) Gandhiji had expected that he would be back from Champaran in _________ .
(a) a few days
(b) two weeks
(c) a few months
(d) one week

Answer: A