Today In this post, we will discuss the details of Class 12 English Chapter 4 “Indigo” and its question Answer. If you are a student of Class 12 and you are searching for the Indigo Question Answer then this article may help you a lot in the upcoming HS Final Exam 2023- 24.
Short Details of Indigo Class 12 English
The following story takes place in 1916 when Gandhi stepped up to aid a group of impoverished peasants from Champaran. This account sheds light on his arduous journey to bring them justice and equality. The land in Champaran was primarily divided into a large estate owned by Englishmen, with Indian tenants working on it. The main crop cultivated on this land was Indigo, and the landlords forced all the tenants to plant 15% of their Indigo and submit the entire harvest as rent. The tenants were under a long-term agreement to do so.
As Germany began developing synthetic Indigo, the British no longer required the Indigo crop, and the landlords started demanding compensation to release the poor peasants from their 15% agreement. While some uneducated peasants agreed to the compensation, others did not. One of the sharecroppers, Raj Kumar Shukla, arranged a meeting with Gandhi to discuss these issues.
Shukla urged Gandhi to visit Champaran to end the long-standing injustice. Gandhi agreed and boarded a train to Patna in Bihar. Shukla helped Gandhi visit the house of Rajendra Prasad, a lawyer. As Gandhi dressed simply, the servants mistook him for a poor peasant. Thus, Gandhi planned before trying to get justice for the peasants, as the British government was punishing anyone who supported national leaders or protesters.
Once Gandhi arrived, news of his mission spread across the town like wildfire. This resulted in a surge of lawyers and peasant groups coming in large numbers to support him. The lawyers agreed that the charges were exorbitant and unreasonable for poor peasants.
However, Gandhi criticized them for charging high fees to the sharecroppers. He emphasized counselling as a means of providing the peasants with the confidence to fight their fears. After a year-long fight for justice, he managed to secure justice for the peasants. He also arranged for education, health, and hygiene for the families of the poor peasants. Finally, he taught them a lesson about self-sufficiency and self-confidence.
Indigo Question Answer: Think as you read
Q. 1. Strike out what is not true in the following:
(a) Rajkumar shukla was –
1) a sharecropper.
2) a politician.
3) delegate.
4) a landlord.
Ans : (1) a sharecropper.
(b) Rajkumar shukla was –
1) poor.
2) physically strong.
3) Illiterate.
Ans : (3)Illiterate.
2. Why is Rajkumar described as being resolute?
Ans: Rajkumar Shukla wanted Gandhi to take up the cause of the poor peasants in Champaran. The peasants were indigo sharecroppers. He met Gandhi in Lucknow. Gandhi had many places to go. Shukla accompanied him everywhere. He waited until Gandhi was free. So, he was resolutely thought illiterate.
3. Why do you think the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant?
Ans: The servants knew Shukla who was a poor peasant of Champaran. He always troubled Rajendra Prasad to fight for the cause of the sharecroppers. Gandhi was simple and so they thought him to be another peasant from Champaran.
4. List the place that Gandhi visited between his first meeting with Shukla and his arrival at Champaran.
Ans: Lucknow —>Ashram (Ahmadabad) –>Calcutta —> Patna —> Muzaffarpur —>Motihari —> Champaran.
5. What did the peasants pay the British landlords as rent? What did the British now want instead and why? What would be the impact of synthetic indigo on the prices of natural indigo?
Ans: The peasants were compelled to plant 15% of their holdings with indigo. They had to surrender the whole harvest to the landlords as rent. The indigo plantation was no more profitable. Therefore, the landlords wanted compensation for freeing the peasants. The peasants saw through their tricks.
Natural indigo became cheap. The indigo plantation became quite unprofitable after the development of synthetic indigo in Germany.
6. The event in this part of the text illustrates Gandhi’s method of working. Can you identify some instances of this method and link them to his ideas of satyagraha and non-violence?
Ans: Gandhi had a deep respect for legal authority. But he could defy the authorities when they violated natural justice and human values. For him, the voice of conscience was above any law. So, he defied the others to go away from Champaran. He was polite and friendly when he helped the British to regulate the crowd. He tried to obey the law. But he had also the power to disobey it for any nobler cause. All these can be linked with his ideas of satyagraha and non-violence.
7. Why did Gandhi agree to the settlement of a 25% refund to the farmers?
Ans: Gandhi explained that the amount of refund was less important than the landlords were humbled. They were compelled to surrender not only money but also their prestige. Therefore, Gandhi agreed to accept the settlement though earlier he had claimed a 50% refund.
8. How did the episode change the plight of the peasant?
Ans: Previously the landlords behaved as lords above the law. Now, the peasants understood that they had rights and person too to defend their rights. They learned courage. Within a few years, the British planters abandoned the lands. The peasants at once owned them. The sharecropping system died its natural death.
Indigo Question Answer: Understanding the Text
1. Why do you think Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning point in his life?
Ans: Champaran movements were the turning point of Gandhi’s life. It was the first mass movement in India. The motive of it was to release the peasant from the cruelty of landlords.
The success of Champaran marked the first triumph of civil Disobedience in modern India. For the first time the landlords who behaved as lords above the law had to be humbled by surrendering their money and their prestige. The peasants learned courage. They knew that they had rights and they had men also to defend their rights.
Moreover, the Champaran episode was the beginning of their liberation from fear of the British.
2. How was Gandhi able to influence lawyers? Give instances.
Ans: The lawyers of Muzaffarpur called on Gandhi to brief him. Gandhi chided the lawyers for collecting big fees from poor sharecroppers. He explained that in such situations law, and courts were useless to them. Next Gandhi met the lawyers of Bihar. Rajendra Prasad and many prominent lawyers went to help him. He consulted them and asked what if he was sentenced to jail, would they do. A senior lawyer said that they would go home.
Then Gandhi asked again what the fate of the peasants would be after that. He wanted to know whether they would run away leaving the battleground, to see the peasants exploited. The lawyer discussed and understood that being a stranger, if Gandhi could go to prison, why, being neighbors they could do nothing. They decided to follow Gandhi to the prison.
3. What was the attitude of the average Indian in smaller localities towards advocates of home rule?
Ans: The attitude of the average Indian in smaller localities was quite indifferent and evasive. They were unorganized. They were afraid of showing sympathy for advocates of home rule. Before the advent of Gandhi. the people could not imagine any mass movement.
4. How do we know that ordinary people too contributed to the freedom movement?
Ans: The freedom movement would not have been successful without the participation of ordinary people. Gandhi took the struggle for freedom even to the huts of millions. In the case of champagne, peasants did not know about Gandhi’s movement in South Africa.
But they came out spontaneously to the court only after hearing that a ‘Mahatma’ wanted to help them and he was now in trouble. The people began to realize the dream of a free country where they should not obey the order of the British. They participated in large numbers at every stage of the freedom struggle. In the journey to Dandi, in the call of avoiding British products, the ordinary people took part actively.
5. “freedom from fear is more important than legal justice for the poor,” Do you think that the poor of India Are free from fear after independence?
Ans: The statement is quite true in the Indian context. A poor peasant is unable to go to court for fear of red tapism. They can’t engage good lawyers, Seeking Justice as the lawyers often take heavy amounts of fees. therefore. Legal justice remains far off from them. At the time of Gandhi also, he had to chide the lawyers of Bihar for Collecting heavy fees from the miserable sharecroppers. Therefore, the poor must be out of fear to understand their rights. Then, they could even Change the law in a body.
It is untrue that the Indian poor are out of fear today. The poor have to work hard to keep their the body and soul together. Money and crime go hand in hand. Poor peasants are still being exploited. They can’t have a proper price for their crops. Similarly, workers in factories are suffering from the fear of insecurity. The corrupt people have occupied high places everywhere and consequently, poor people had to live in the fear of politicians. dons of the Underworld, industrialists, and even musclemen.
6. The qualities of a good leader.
Ans: To be a good leader, one should have the power to understand the people. He should first think for the general welfare of the people. One who can lead people to progress and personality is a true leader. Courage, determination. The ability to grasp the situation, and above all unselfish attitude are the great qualities of a leader. He should be a good orator. He should have such an image that can influence others. He should also be clear with his ideas and action.
Indigo Question Answer: Working with words
1. List the words used in the text that are related to legal proceedings. For example deposition.
Ans: the words are:
1) proceeding.
2) Relief.
3) compensation.
4) summon.
5) trial.
6) penalty.
7) evidence.
2. List other words that you know that fall into this category.
Ans: They are :
1)conviction.
2) bail.
3)warrant.
4)hearing.
5) prosecution.
6)witness.
7) prison.
Indigo Question Answer: Thinking about language
1. Notice the sentences in the text which are in direct speech. ‘ why does the author use quotations in his narration?
Ans:
- “l will tell you how it happened that I decided to urge the departure of the British. It was in 1917.”
- “I am Raj Kumar skukla. I am from Champaran and I want you to come to my district! “
- “l have to be in Calcutta on such and such a date. Come and meet me and take me from there.”
- I have come to the conclusion that we should stop going to law courts. The real relief for them is to be free from fear”.
- “The commissioner,” Gandhi reports ” proceeded to fully me and advised me forthwith to leave that.”
- “The battle of Champaran is won! ” he exclaimed.
- “What I did “. He explained “. Was a very ordinary thing. I decided that the British could not order me about in my own country.”
The writer uses quotations to enliven the episode. He repeats exactly those words as they were actually uttered.
2. Notice the use or nonuse of the comma in the following sentences.
a) When I first visited Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in Seagram, he told me what happened in Champaran.
b) He had not proceeded far when the police superintendent‘s messenger overtook him.
c) When the court reconvened, the judge said he would not deliver the judgment for several days.
Ans: In Sentences (a) and (c) the use of commas indicates a pause between two actions. The Visit of the Author -the telling of Gandhi in a sentence
a) the court reconvened – the statement of the judge
c) In sentence (b) no comma is used as there is on pause between the two incidents.
