CBSE Class 12 English Indigo Worksheet Set D

Answer Questions

Question 1. 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.

Question 2. 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.

Question 3. 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. They 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.

Question 4. 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.

Question 5. 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.

Question 6. 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.

Question 7. 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.

Question 8. How did Gandhi 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.

Question 9. 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.

Question 10. 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.

Question 11. ‘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.

Question 12. What according to Gandhi was the beginning of the poor peasants’ ‘Liberation from 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, around the courthouse. Gandhiji called their action of protest as their liberation from fear of the British.

Question 13. Why did Gandhiji feel that taking the Champaran case to the court was useless?
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.

Question 14. 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.

Question 15. 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.

Question 16. “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. Several days later Gandhi received an official letter. The case against him had been dropped. Thus, civil disobedience had triumphed.

Question 17. 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. 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.

Question 18. 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.

Question 19. 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.

Question 20. 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.

Question 21. 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.

Question 22. 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. The deadlock was broken when Gandhi agreed to a settlement of 25 per cent refund to peasants.

Question 23. How 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 sharecroppers now.

Question 24. 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. 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.

Question 25. “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.

Question 26. Why was Gandhiji opposed to C.F. Andrews helping him in Champaran?
Answer: 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.

Question 27. The peasants were themselves the most crucial agents in the success of the Champaran Civil Disobedience. Expand
Answer: It is a fact that the people responsible for the success of the Champaran Civil Disobedience were the peasants themselves. If they had not overcome their fear of the Britishers and come out in such large numbers outside the Motihari Court, they would not have been able to intimidate and overwhelm the British rulers.

Question 28. Gandhi makes it clear that money and finance are a secondary aspect of the struggle in Champaran. Comment on aspect that you think was most important for Gandhi.
Answer: For Gandhiji it was more important to show the peasant that the Britishers were not above the law. He wanted them to overcome their fear for the court and to break the image in the minds for the peasants that the Britishers were infallible and could not be touched. Moreover their agreeing to surrender 25% of the compensation amount was a boost to the peasants because with the money the English were forced to surrender a part of their prestige.

Question 29. Gandhi was a lawyer himself. Examine how his professional expertise helped in Champaran.
Answer: Gandhiji’s training as a lawyer was great help towards the resolutions of the Champaran issue. He knew that a case can be won in the court only if they had hardcore evidence against the English. Therefore he spent all his time in collecting evidence and investigating the cases of harassments. He was able to collect more than 10,000 depositions and this mounting evidence against the landlords forced them to acknowledge their wrong doings and agree to pay compensation.

Question 30. Explain the possible reasons for Gandhi’s quick popularity among the peasants of Champaran.
Answer: One of the reasons was his accessibility. Anyone and everyone could meet him at any time with their problem. Secondly, he genuinely cared about solving their problems and patiently heard them out and recorded their evidence. He proved his commitment to their cause by spending almost a year with them. He was selfless, dressed like them, lived in their hut and put himself first in facing the anger of the Britishers.

III. Long Answer Questions

Question 1. Why did Gandhiji consider freedom from fear more important than legal justice for the poor peasants of Champaran? OR What solution to the problems of the poor did Gandhi suggest? How far did the Champaran movement help in this direction?
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. Many peasants engaged lawyers at hefty fees and went to 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.

Question 2. 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 to study the problems of the sharecropper peasants. On his way to a neighbouring village to check on a maltreated peasant, he was stopped and ordered to return to town. He was served with an official notice to quit Champaran at once. Gandhi wrote on the receipt that he would disobey the order, for which he received a summons to appear in the court. Next morning the town was black with peasants. Thousands demonstrated outside the court. The prosecutor requested to postpone the trial, but Gandhi protested against the delay and pleaded guilty. The judge released him without bail and eventually, the case against him was dropped. Thus, civil disobedience had triumphed for the first time in India.

Question 3. 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. He began by trying to get facts despite non-cooperation from the British officials. Gandhi and the lawyers collected depositions by about ten thousand peasants. The official commission of inquiry assembled huge quantity of evidence against the big planters. They agreed, in principle, to make refunds. A settlement of 25 per cent refund was agreed on. This was a moral victory as peasants recognized their rights and learned courage. Within a few years the British planters gave up their estates, and indigo sharecropping disappeared.

Question 4. How did Gandhi work for rural uplift during his stay in Champaran?
Answer: Gandhi wanted to remove the cultural and social backwardness in Champaran villages. He appealed for teachers, and several disciples, their wives, and his own family volunteered. Primary schools were opened in six villages. Kasturba taught the ashram rules on personal cleanliness and community sanitation. Health conditions were miserable, so a volunteer doctor served for six months using basic medicines like castor oil, quinine, and sulphur ointment. Gandhi worked for total uplift of the villages and the poor sections of the society.

Question 5. ‘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 because it was during this struggle in 1917 that he decided to urge the departure of the British. It grew out of an attempt to alleviate the distress of poor peasants. Gandhi concentrated on practical, day-to-day problems and tried to eradicate fear. He taught his lawyer friends a lesson in self-reliance by opposing the involvement of C.F. Andrews. Thus self-reliance, Indian independence and help to sharecroppers were all bound together in his mission to mould a free Indian who could stand on his own feet.

Question 6. Justify the appropriateness of the title ‘Indigo’. Give reason to support your answer.
Answer: The title ‘Indigo’ is appropriate as it focuses on the central issue—the exploitation of the indigo sharecropper peasants. They were compelled to raise indigo on 15 per cent of their land and surrender the entire harvest as rent. The struggle against synthetic indigo compensation and the ultimate victory when indigo sharecropping disappeared are central to the story. The extract also points out the work done by Gandhi to improve the economic, political, and cultural life of the sharecroppers. Thus, the title ‘Indigo’ is highly suggestive and apt.

Question 7. What impression do you form about Gandhi on reading the chapter ‘Indigo’?
Answer: The chapter ‘Indigo’ pays a tribute to the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi to secure justice through convincing argumentation and negotiation. He had a magnetic attraction and could draw people from all classes to the freedom movement. He emerges as a champion of the downtrodden. His knowledge of legal procedure and respect for law is also highlighted. He does not want to be a lawbreaker but obeys the higher law of the voice of conscience. He believed in self-reliance, just cause, and purity of means to achieve India’s Independence.

Question 8. Why is the Champaran episode considered to be the beginning of the Indian struggle for Independence?
Answer: The Champaran episode began as an attempt to ease the sufferings of a large number of peasants and received spontaneous support from thousands. Gandhi declared that the British could not order him about in his own country. Under his leadership, the peasants became aware of their rights and fought courageously. It resulted in their winning the battle of Champaran. The success of non-violence and non-cooperation proved very fruitful. Hence, it can be said that the Champaran episode is the beginning of the Indian struggle for independence.

Question 9. Write an article on the topic ‘Patriotism’ taking ideas from the following hint: “They thought, amongst themselves, that Gandhi was totally a stranger, and yet he was prepared to go to prison for the sake of the peasants; if they, on the other hand, being not only residents of the adjoining districts but also those who claimed to have served these peasants, should go home, it would be shameful desertion.”
Answer: Patriotism
Patriotism implies love for one’s nation and a readiness to sacrifice comfort for its service. Sardar Bhagat Singh, Shivaji, and Rana Pratap are examples of true patriots who suffered for their land. A patriot respects other nations but doesn't allow insults to their own. India is a land where patriots are in abundance, and its freedom was won through their efforts. It is an ideology and a feeling that unites people of various sects and backgrounds. A patriot should develop an international progressive outlook, loving their country not for its size but because it is their own.

Question 10. Write an article on ‘Corruption in Contemporary India’ taking ideas from the given lines: “Gandhi protested against the delay. He read a statement pleading guilty… when the court reconvened, the judge said he would not deliver the judgement for several days.”
Answer: Corruption in Contemporary India
Corruption means dishonesty and illegal behavior especially of people in authority. It has engulfed all sections of society. Corruption often starts from the top, and if leaders are unscrupulous, others will follow. Our politicians and bureaucrats must maintain moral authority. Outdated systems where ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ contribute to the exploitation of the poor. Corruption should be checked to create a congenial atmosphere where honest persons are rewarded and the corrupt are punished.

Question 11. Elucidate the saying ‘Sweet are the Uses of Adversity’ taking ideas from the given lines: “Events justified Gandhi’s position. Within a few years the British planters abandoned their estates, which reverted to the peasants. Indigo sharecropping disappeared.”
Answer: Sweet are the Uses of Adversity
Adversity is the first path that leads towards the truth and acts as a spur. While material pleasures bring happiness, trying circumstances have a chastening effect and make one's personality dynamic. Fighting against odd circumstances builds character, much like gold shines in fire. Prosperity can make a person lazy, but adversity teaches courage and resilience. The disappearance of sharecropping in Champaran is a testament to how facing adversity led to ultimate success and empowerment for the peasants.

Question 12. Discuss the defects of our education system in your own words. Remember the expression: “Gandhi never contented himself with large political or economic solutions. He saw the cultural and social backwardness in the Champaran villages… He appealed for teachers.”
Answer: Defects of our Education System
Education should develop a child's overall personality—mind, body, and soul. However, the present system often creates "crammers" who mug up pages to pass exams without practical training. It lacks creativity and values. We need engineers and scientists, but vocational education shouldn't come at the cost of values. A true education teaches students how to behave and build self-confidence. The current admission processes and lack of focus on social backwardness are significant defects that need addressing for national progress.

Question 13. Write a speech, as Gandhi, addressing the students about the qualities every leader and politician should nurture.
Answer: Dear students, you are all leaders of social change. I see many bright faces that assure me our future is in good hands. Leadership is about serving those who need you and have faith in you. A true leader leads by example—doing first what they expect of others. It is not about power but about alleviating the sorrows of the marginalized and downtrodden. Most importantly, service should be done without expectation of being recognized or lauded. Loyalty should not be to abstract ideas, but to living human beings.

Question 14. Pen down the discussion you think would have taken place between Rajendra Prasad and Charles Freer Andrews regarding Gandhi's decision.
Answer: Dr. Prasad: Dear Charles, I want to convey Gandhiji's decision of not including you in the fight against British rulers. He appreciates your offer but feels it would be unfair to use you as a "prop" for our cause. Including an Englishman would mean we lack faith in our own strength and the righteousness of our fight. He wants us to be self-reliant and connect to the inner strength and courage within us. In his opinion, being fearless and standing on our own feet is the only way we can truly get freedom from this oppression.