INDIGO BY LOUIS FISCHER

COMPLETE SOLUTION OF INDIGO

Q1. What is the name of the author of “Indigo”?

Ans:- Louis Fischer (1896-1970) is the author of ‘Indigo’.

Q2. Who was Louis Fischer?

Ans:- Louis Fischer was a great writer and a famous Journalist.

Q3. When did Louis visit Mahatma Gandhi in Sevagram?

Ans:- Louis visited Mahatma Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in Sevagram.

Q4. What was going on in December 1916 in Lucknow for Indian National Congress party?

Ans:- In December 1916, an annual convention of the Indian National Congress party was going on.

Q5. How many delegates were participated in the annual convention of the Indian National Congress party while December 1916?

Ans:- 2,301 delegates and many visitors were participated in the annual convention of the Indian National Congress party in December 1916.

Q6. Who was Rajkumar shukla?

Ans:-  Rajkumar  shukla was an illiterate resolute poor sharecropper of Champaran, Bihar.

Q7. Had Mahatma Gandhi ever heard about Champaran?

Ans:- No, Mahatma Gandhi had never heard ever about Champaran.

Q8. Why did Shukla arrive Lucknow to Gandhi?

Ans:- Shukla arrived Lucknow to take Mahatma Gandhi to his district Champaran.

Q9. Where is Champaran situated?

Ans:- Champaran is situated in the foothills of the towering Himalayas, near the kingdom of Nepal.

Q10. What was the mean by sharecropping?

Ans:- Under an ancient arrangement, most of the peasants of Champaran were compelled to grow Indigo crops by the British under the supervision of landlords. The landlords compelled all tenants to plant three twentieths or 15% of their holdings with indigo and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent.

Q11. For where did Mahatma Gandhi and Shukla board the train?

Ans:- Mahatma Gandhi and Rajkumar both boarded a train for the city of Patna in Bihar.

Q12. Where did Shukla lead Gandhi in Patna, Bihar?

Ans:- Rajkumar shukla led Mahatma Gandhi to the house of a  famous lawyer named Rajendra Prasad.

Q13. Why did the servants of Rajendra Prasad let Gandhi to stay on the grounds with Shukla?

Ans:- Indeed, the servants knew Shukla as a poor yeoman who pestered their master to help the indigo sharecroppers. So they thought Mahatma Gandhi will be another peasant and that’s why they let Mahatma Gandhi to stay on the grounds with Shukla.

Q14. Why didn’t the servants permit Mahatma Gandhi to draw water from the well?

Ans:-Due to untouchability, Mahatma Gandhi did not permit to draw water from the well by the servants, because the servants thought M. Gandhi is from a low caste and even a few drops of water from his bucket can pollute the entire source.

Q15. Why did Gandhi go to Muzzafarpur?

Ans:- Mahatma Gandhi went to Muzzafarpur which was en route to Champaran, to obtain complete information about the conditions of sharecropping.

Q16. Who was Professor J. B. Kripalani?

Ans:- J. B. Kripalani was the professor of the Arts College in Muzzafarpur.

Q17. When did Gandhi arrive at Muzzafarpur’s railway station?

Ans:- Mahatma Gandhi arrived at midnight, 15 April 1917 Muzzafarpur railway station by the train.

Q18. Who was Professor Malkani?

Ans:- Professor Malkani was a teacher in a government school.

Q19. What was the commercial crop while 1917 ?

Ans:- Indigo was the commercial crop while 1917.

Q20. What happened when Gandhi arrived Bihar?

Ans:- The news of Gandhi’s arrival and of the nature of his mission spread quickly through Muzzafarpur and to Champaran. It brought a revolution among sharecroppers of Champaran, they began arriving on foot and by conveyance to see their champion.

Q21. Why did M. Gandhi chide the lawyers?

Ans:- Mahatma Gandhi scolded the lawyers for collecting big fee from the sharecroppers.

Q22. What did Gandhi say about the liberty of sharecroppers from sharecropping?

Ans:- Gandhi said , by 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 the peasants is to be free from fear.

Q23. Why did the Landlords compel Indian tenants of Champaran ?          

Ans:- The Landlords compelled all tenants of Champaran to plant three twentieths or 15% of their holding with indigo and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent.

Q24. What had Germany developed?

Ans:- Germany had developed synthetic indigo.

Q25. What did the peasants want by the British landlords?

Ans:- Those illiterate peasants who had been cheated by the landlords illegally, they wanted their money back by the British landlords.

Q26. Whom did Mahatma Gandhi meet?

Ans:- Mahatma Gandhi met the secretary of the British landlord’s association and then Gandhi called on the British official commissioner.

Q27. What did the British commissioner advise  M. Gandhi?

Ans:- The British commissioner advised Mahatma Gandhi immediately to leave Trihut.

Q28. Where was the capital of Champaran?

Ans:- Motihari was the capital of Champaran.

Q29. Did Mahatma Gandhi stop his investigation about sharecropping after the threat of British?

Ans:- No, he didn’t, whereas he kept continue his investigation about sharecropping.

Q30. Did Gandhi obey the summon of the court?

Ans:- No, Gandhi disobeyed the summon of the court.

Q31. What did M. Gandhi receive from the court?

Ans:- M. Gandhi received a summon from the court to appear in court the next day.

Q35. How many farmers did give their written depositions against the British landlords?

Ans:- Approx ten thousands farmers gave their written depositions against the British landlords.

Q36. Who was Sir Edward Gait?

Ans:- Sir Edward Gait was the Lieutenant Governor of the British.

Q37. What did Sir Edward Gait do to get whole information about the indigo sharecropping’ situation?

Ans:- Sir Edward Gait appointed an official commission of inquiry into the Indigo sharecropping situation, so that complete information could be obtained.

Q38. How many months did M. Gandhi stay in Champaran?

Ans:- Gandhi remained in Champaran for an initial uninterrupted period of seven months and then he took many shorter visits.

Q39. What did the result of the official inquiry report bring up?

Ans:- The official inquiry assembled a crushing mountain of evidence against the big planters, and when the British saw this they agreed, in principle to make refunds to the peasants.

Q40. Who was that Englishman who had observed the entire episode at close range of Indigo movement of sharecropping?

Ans:- That Englishman was J.Z. Hodge, a British missionary in champaran who had observed the entire episode of Indigo movement in Champaran.

Q41. At what percent did Gandhi agree to get refund from the British?

Ans:- Gandhi agreed at 25% refund from the British.

Q42. What did the peasants of Champaran learn from Indigo movement?

Ans:- The peasants of Champaran learnt courage from Indigo movement.

Q43. According to Mahatma Gandhi what was more important than the amount of refund?

Ans:- According to M.Gandhi, the amount of refund was less important than prestige.

Q44. Who were Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh?

Ans:- Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh both were disciple of Gandhi whom later appointed as teacher in Champaran.

Q45. What did Mahatma Gandhi do for Champaran’s peasants?

Ans:- Mahatma Gandhi helped the peasants of Champaran in many ways, primary schools were opened in six villages, he taught many significant lessons to the farmers of Champaran to keep clean all around. Mahatma Gandhi made learn inerasable lesson to the farmers of Champaran to raise their voice against the injustice with truth and non-violence. 

Q46. What medicines were available at the Ashram in those days?

Ans:- In those days only few medicines were available- castor oil, quinine and sulphur ointment.

Q47. Who was Charles Freer Andrews?

Ans:-Charles Freer Andrews was an English pacifist and a devoted follower of M.Gandhi.

Q48. Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as being ‘resolute’?

Ans:- Indeed, Rajkumar Shukla was an illiterate sharecropper of Champaran, Bihar. He went to Lucknow in December 1916 to attend the annual convention of the Indian National Congress. He had arrived Lucknow to meet M.Gandhi. He narrated the whole story of injustice about sharecropping in Champaran and the pathetical condition of peasants. But Gandhi was not free, he already had committed to keep many visits for different parts of India, hence Shukla had to wait until Gandhi’s back. But he didn’t move anywhere without taking M.Gandhi to his district Champaran. So, Shukla is described as resolute.

Q49. Why do you think the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant?

Ans:- When Ganghiji arrived at Rajendra prasad’s house with Skhukla, the servants knew Shukla as a peasant but they knew nothing about Gandhi, so they guessed Gandhiji must be an another peasant.

Q50. How did the episode change the plight of the peasants?

Ans:- Indigo movement changed the plight of the peasants of Champaran within few years. System of sharecropping vanished; the British planters tabooed their estate. The lands which were under the British landlords reverted to the peasants. Thus peasants got freedom to grow their crops and owned their lands.

Q51. Why do you think Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning-point in his life?

Ans:- in fact, no one knew Gandhiji before the Champaran episode. But while Champaran episode Gandhiji had revealed the power of his own weapon non-violence and satyagraha. This episode placed Gandhiji very close to the hearts of every common man and peasants. So, it is said that Champaran episode was a turning point in Gandhi’s life.

Q52. How do we know that ordinary people too contributed to the freedom movement?

Ans:- It is bitter truth that not only our greatest freedom – fighters, Mahatma Gandhi, Shubash Chandra Bose, J. L. Nehru, Rajendra Prasad and many other prominent leaders collaborated their hands in India’s freedom while even every common fellow contributed to the freedom movement. Many of them were like Rajkumar Shukla, illiterate and quite anonymous about law and order but they fought equally for India’s liberty against the British. Without their mass cooperation India wouldn’t have got freedom. They fought together with Gandhi in Salt movement, in non-cooperative movement and in satyagraha too. Though their names are not written in the history of India’s freedom but their names are still alive in the hearts of Indians. Their contribution brought revolution in every nook of India and due to their sacrifice India became independent from the cruel British.