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By Louis Fischer
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Louis Fischer was a journalist and lecturer. He wrote many books about the Soviet Union, including biographies and studies on Stalin. In 1958, he became a research associate at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. In 1961, he became a lecturer at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He died in 1970.
1. When and where did Louis Fischer first meet Gandhi? What did they talk about?
Louis Fischer served as a volunteer in the British Army between 1918 and 1920. He wrote a book on Gandhi named, The Life of Mahatama Gandhi. He met Gandhi when he first visited him in 1942 at his ashram in Sevagram in central India. That was the time when Gandhi told him how he had decided to urge the departure of the British from India in 1917.
2. Who was Rajkumar Shukla ? Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as being ‘resolute’?
The Champaran peasants were sharecroppers, Rajkumar Shukla was one of them. He was illiterate but resolute. He was described as being resolute because he had come to the congress session to complain about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar. He was determined enough to take the issue of Champaran sharecroppers and get some solution to their problem. At the congress session somebody had probably told him to speak to Gandhi. After meeting Gandhi in Lucknow, he followed him everywhere. For weeks he never left Gandhi’s side, begging him to go to Champaran.
3. Why do you think the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant?
In Patna, Rajkumar Shukla led Gandhiji to the house of Rajendra Prasad who was a lawyer. The servants knew Shukla as a poor peasant of Champaran who often came to Rajendra Prasad’s house and pestered him to take up the cause of the indigo sharecroppers of Champaran. Since a simple-clad Gandhiji accompanied Shukla the servants mistook him to be another peasant.
4. Why did Gandhiji agree to the planters’ offer of a 25 percent refund to the farmers?
Gandhiji had asked the indigo planters for a 50 percent refund to the farmers but they offered only 25 percent. Gandhiji still agreed to their offer because for him the amount of the refund was of less importance. More important was the fact that the planters had been forced to surrender part of their prestige. So he agreed to their settlement.
5. How was Gandhiji able to influence the lawyers at Champaran?
Gandhiji reproached the lawyers for over-charging the poor peasants. When the peasants were so poor and crushed, it was inhuman to charge heavy fees from them. Gandhiji’s selfless service and devotion to the cause of the peasants put the lawyers to shame.
6. While at Champaran how did Gandhiji keep a long distance watch on his ashram?
During his long stay in Champaran, Gandhiji kept a long distance watch on his Ashram. He sent regular instructions by mail and asked for financial accounts. He even wrote to the residents that it was time to fill in the old latrine trenches and dig new ones.
7. Why did Gandhiji feel that taking the Champaran case to the court was useless?
Gandhiji felt taking the Champaran case to the court was useless as taking such cases to the courts did little good. Where the peasants are so crushed and fear-stricken, law courts prove useless. The real relief for these peasants was to be free from fear.
8. How did the Champaran peasants react when they heard that a Mahatma had come to help them?
As the news of Gandhiji’s advent and the nature of his mission spread, the peasants began arriving on foot and by conveyance to get a glimpse of their champion. The lawyers, who had represented the peasant groups in court, also came to brief Gandhiji.
9. Why was Gandhiji opposed to C.F. Andrews helping him in Champaran?
When Gandhiji was asked to appear in the court in Motihari, thousands of peasants held a demonstration surrounding the courthouse. The officials felt helpless and the government was baffled. The trial was postponed, as the judge didn’t want to aggravate the situation. He held up the sentence for several days, after which Gandhiji was released without bail. All these events made the Lieutenant Governor drop the case against Gandhiji.
11. Why do you think Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning point in his life.
The Champaran episode began as an attempt to alleviate the distress of poor peasants. Ultimately it proved to be a turning point in Gandhiji’s life because it was a loud proclamation that made the British realise that Gandhiji could not be given an order in his own country. It infused courage to question British authority in the masses and laid the foundation of non-cooperation as a new tool to fight the British tooth and nail.
12. What do you think, led Gandhi to exclaim “The battle of Champaran is won”?
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.
13. How did Gandhi react to the commissioner’s advice? Where did he go and how did people react to his arrival?
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.
14. (a)What did the peasants pay the British landlord as rent? (b) What did the British not want instead and why? (c)What would be the impact of synthetic indigo on the prices of natural indigo?
(a) Most of the cultivable 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 15 percent of their holdings with indigo and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. This was done by long-term contract.
(b) The landlords later learned that Germany had developed synthetic indigo. They, thereupon obtained agreements from the sharecroppers to pay them ( them here refers to the landlords) compensation for being released from the 15 percent agreement. The share cropping agreement displeased the farmers and many signed the agreement willingly but those who resisted engaged lawyers and the landlords hired thugs.( thugs refers to gangsters or bandits ) Meanwhile , the information about the synthetic dyes reached the innocent peasants who had signed the agreements wanted their money back. Gandhi arrived at this point in Champaran. A report came to Gandhi a peasant have been maltreated in a nearby village.
(c )It was because the price of natural indigo would fall with the arrival of synthetic indigo. It will diminish or block the demand of the indigo.
15. What was the first order of the British government, that Gandhi refused to obey?
In Bihar, to get the facts about sharecroppers, Gandhi first visited the secretary of the British landlord’s association. The secretary refused to give information to an outside. Next, the British Commissioner of Tirhut asked him to leave Tirhut, which he did not obey instead he proceeded to Mothari, accompanied by several lawyers. There he heard that a peasant had been maltreated in a nearby village. Gandhi decided to go and see him but he had not gone far. When the police superintendent’s messenger ordered him to return to town. Gandhi agreed but the messenger who drove him home served him with an official notice to quit Champaran immediately. Gandhi signed a receipt for the notice and wrote on it that he would disobey the order.
16. Cultural and social backwardness of the people was Gandhi’s chief concern. Explain.
Gandhi was never satisfied with large political or economic solutions. He wanted to do something about the cultural and social backwardness in the Champaran villages. He appealed for teachers. Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh two of Gandhi’s disciples and their wives, volunteered for the work. Several more came from Bombay, Pune and other distant parts of the land Devdas, Gandhi’s younger son and Kasturbai arrived from the ashram. Primary schools were opened in six villages. Kasturbai taught the ashram rules on personal cleanliness and community sanitation. Health condition were miserable. Gandhi got a doctor to volunteer his services for six months. Three medicines were made available – castor oil, quinine , and sulphur ointment.
17. Civil disobedience had triumphed for the first time in modern India. When was it?
Gandhi received summons to appear in court when he defied the order to leave Motihari. By morning, Motihari was full of peasants. Their spontaneous demonstration in thousands, around the court house was the beginning of their Liberation from fear of the British . The officials were powerless and had to seek Gandhi’s help to regulate the crowd.
Several prominent lawyers from Bihar came to confer with Gandhi about his impending sentence. On Gandhi’s questioning as to what they would do if he was sentenced to prison, a senior lawyer replied that they had come to help him and if he went to jail, they would go home. Gandhi mentioned the injustice to the sharecroppers. At first, they were reluctant but later, they thought that though Gandhi was a complete stranger, yet he was prepared to go to prison for the sake of the peasants. On the other hand, they were residents of the adjoining districts and also claimed to have served these peasants. If they went home it would be viewed as a ‘shameful’ desertion.
They decided to follow Gandhi into jail. This support of the countrymen meant that their battle was won. Days later, the case against Gandhi was dropped. Civil disobedience had been victorious for the first time in modern India.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Louis Fischer was a journalist and lecturer. He wrote many books about the Soviet Union, including biographies and studies on Stalin. In 1958, he became a research associate at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. In 1961, he became a lecturer at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He died in 1970.
1. When and where did Louis Fischer first meet Gandhi? What did they talk about?
Louis Fischer served as a volunteer in the British Army between 1918 and 1920. He wrote a book on Gandhi named, The Life of Mahatama Gandhi. He met Gandhi when he first visited him in 1942 at his ashram in Sevagram in central India. That was the time when Gandhi told him how he had decided to urge the departure of the British from India in 1917.
2. Who was Rajkumar Shukla ? Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as being ‘resolute’?
The Champaran peasants were sharecroppers, Rajkumar Shukla was one of them. He was illiterate but resolute. He was described as being resolute because he had come to the congress session to complain about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar. He was determined enough to take the issue of Champaran sharecroppers and get some solution to their problem. At the congress session somebody had probably told him to speak to Gandhi. After meeting Gandhi in Lucknow, he followed him everywhere. For weeks he never left Gandhi’s side, begging him to go to Champaran.
3. Why do you think the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant?
In Patna, Rajkumar Shukla led Gandhiji to the house of Rajendra Prasad who was a lawyer. The servants knew Shukla as a poor peasant of Champaran who often came to Rajendra Prasad’s house and pestered him to take up the cause of the indigo sharecroppers of Champaran. Since a simple-clad Gandhiji accompanied Shukla the servants mistook him to be another peasant.
4. Why did Gandhiji agree to the planters’ offer of a 25 percent refund to the farmers?
Gandhiji had asked the indigo planters for a 50 percent refund to the farmers but they offered only 25 percent. Gandhiji still agreed to their offer because for him the amount of the refund was of less importance. More important was the fact that the planters had been forced to surrender part of their prestige. So he agreed to their settlement.
5. How was Gandhiji able to influence the lawyers at Champaran?
Gandhiji reproached the lawyers for over-charging the poor peasants. When the peasants were so poor and crushed, it was inhuman to charge heavy fees from them. Gandhiji’s selfless service and devotion to the cause of the peasants put the lawyers to shame.
6. While at Champaran how did Gandhiji keep a long distance watch on his ashram?
During his long stay in Champaran, Gandhiji kept a long distance watch on his Ashram. He sent regular instructions by mail and asked for financial accounts. He even wrote to the residents that it was time to fill in the old latrine trenches and dig new ones.
7. Why did Gandhiji feel that taking the Champaran case to the court was useless?
Gandhiji felt taking the Champaran case to the court was useless as taking such cases to the courts did little good. Where the peasants are so crushed and fear-stricken, law courts prove useless. The real relief for these peasants was to be free from fear.
8. How did the Champaran peasants react when they heard that a Mahatma had come to help them?
As the news of Gandhiji’s advent and the nature of his mission spread, the peasants began arriving on foot and by conveyance to get a glimpse of their champion. The lawyers, who had represented the peasant groups in court, also came to brief Gandhiji.
9. Why was Gandhiji opposed to C.F. Andrews helping him in Champaran?
Though Gandhiji’s lawyer friends thought it would be a good idea for C.F.Andrews to stay in Champaran and help them, Gandhiji vehemently opposed it. He said that if they had an Englishman on their side it would show the weakness of their heart. They should not attempt to seek a prop in Andrews just because he happened to be an Englishman. Gandhiji wanted Indians to be self-reliant.
10. What made the Lieutenant Governor drop the case against Gandhiji?
10. What made the Lieutenant Governor drop the case against Gandhiji?
When Gandhiji was asked to appear in the court in Motihari, thousands of peasants held a demonstration surrounding the courthouse. The officials felt helpless and the government was baffled. The trial was postponed, as the judge didn’t want to aggravate the situation. He held up the sentence for several days, after which Gandhiji was released without bail. All these events made the Lieutenant Governor drop the case against Gandhiji.
11. Why do you think Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning point in his life.
The Champaran episode began as an attempt to alleviate the distress of poor peasants. Ultimately it proved to be a turning point in Gandhiji’s life because it was a loud proclamation that made the British realise that Gandhiji could not be given an order in his own country. It infused courage to question British authority in the masses and laid the foundation of non-cooperation as a new tool to fight the British tooth and nail.
12. What do you think, led Gandhi to exclaim “The battle of Champaran is won”?
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.
13. How did Gandhi react to the commissioner’s advice? Where did he go and how did people react to his arrival?
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.
14. (a)What did the peasants pay the British landlord as rent? (b) What did the British not want instead and why? (c)What would be the impact of synthetic indigo on the prices of natural indigo?
(a) Most of the cultivable 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 15 percent of their holdings with indigo and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. This was done by long-term contract.
(b) The landlords later learned that Germany had developed synthetic indigo. They, thereupon obtained agreements from the sharecroppers to pay them ( them here refers to the landlords) compensation for being released from the 15 percent agreement. The share cropping agreement displeased the farmers and many signed the agreement willingly but those who resisted engaged lawyers and the landlords hired thugs.( thugs refers to gangsters or bandits ) Meanwhile , the information about the synthetic dyes reached the innocent peasants who had signed the agreements wanted their money back. Gandhi arrived at this point in Champaran. A report came to Gandhi a peasant have been maltreated in a nearby village.
(c )It was because the price of natural indigo would fall with the arrival of synthetic indigo. It will diminish or block the demand of the indigo.
15. What was the first order of the British government, that Gandhi refused to obey?
In Bihar, to get the facts about sharecroppers, Gandhi first visited the secretary of the British landlord’s association. The secretary refused to give information to an outside. Next, the British Commissioner of Tirhut asked him to leave Tirhut, which he did not obey instead he proceeded to Mothari, accompanied by several lawyers. There he heard that a peasant had been maltreated in a nearby village. Gandhi decided to go and see him but he had not gone far. When the police superintendent’s messenger ordered him to return to town. Gandhi agreed but the messenger who drove him home served him with an official notice to quit Champaran immediately. Gandhi signed a receipt for the notice and wrote on it that he would disobey the order.
16. Cultural and social backwardness of the people was Gandhi’s chief concern. Explain.
Gandhi was never satisfied with large political or economic solutions. He wanted to do something about the cultural and social backwardness in the Champaran villages. He appealed for teachers. Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh two of Gandhi’s disciples and their wives, volunteered for the work. Several more came from Bombay, Pune and other distant parts of the land Devdas, Gandhi’s younger son and Kasturbai arrived from the ashram. Primary schools were opened in six villages. Kasturbai taught the ashram rules on personal cleanliness and community sanitation. Health condition were miserable. Gandhi got a doctor to volunteer his services for six months. Three medicines were made available – castor oil, quinine , and sulphur ointment.
17. Civil disobedience had triumphed for the first time in modern India. When was it?
Gandhi received summons to appear in court when he defied the order to leave Motihari. By morning, Motihari was full of peasants. Their spontaneous demonstration in thousands, around the court house was the beginning of their Liberation from fear of the British . The officials were powerless and had to seek Gandhi’s help to regulate the crowd.
Several prominent lawyers from Bihar came to confer with Gandhi about his impending sentence. On Gandhi’s questioning as to what they would do if he was sentenced to prison, a senior lawyer replied that they had come to help him and if he went to jail, they would go home. Gandhi mentioned the injustice to the sharecroppers. At first, they were reluctant but later, they thought that though Gandhi was a complete stranger, yet he was prepared to go to prison for the sake of the peasants. On the other hand, they were residents of the adjoining districts and also claimed to have served these peasants. If they went home it would be viewed as a ‘shameful’ desertion.
They decided to follow Gandhi into jail. This support of the countrymen meant that their battle was won. Days later, the case against Gandhi was dropped. Civil disobedience had been victorious for the first time in modern India.
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