landlords’ association. The secretary refused to give information to an “outsider”. Next, the British commissioner of Tirhut asked him to leave Tirhut, which he did not. Instead, he proceeded to Motihari, 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 was interrupted by the police superintendent’s messenger who ordered him to return. 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.

Question - 42 : -
Why did the officials feel powerless without Gandhi’s cooperation? How did they react?

Answer - 42 : -

When Gandhi was summoned to appear in court, he telegraphed Rajendra Prasad to come with his influential friends. The town of Motihari was filled with peasants, who had come because they had heard that the Mahatma, who wanted to help them, was in trouble with the authorities. The demonstration, in thousands, was the first step toward their liberation from fear. The officials felt powerless without Gandhi’s cooperation.

He helped them regulate the crowd. He proved that their might could be challenged by Indians. The government was taken aback and wanted to consult their superiors. The prosecutor requested the judge to postpone the trial but Gandhi protested against the delay. He read a statement stating that he was guilty of flouting the law but he expressed no regret for helping the cause of the poor peasants. He also refused to furnish bail and was eventually released without bail.

Question - 43 : -
Civil disobedience had triumphed for the first time in modem India. When was it?

Answer - 43 : -

Gandhi received summons to appear in court when he defied the order to leave Motihari. By morning, the peasants demonstrated to lend Gandhi support. Their spontaneous demonstration in thousands, around the courthouse 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. Gandhi convinced them to lend their voice and support to the sharecropping cause. The lawyers promised to follow Gandhi into jail. Gandhi viewed the support of the countrymen as true victory. A few days later, the case against Gandhi was dropped. Civil disobedience triumphed for the first time in modem India.

Question - 44 : -
Cultural and social backwardness of the people was Gandhi’s chief concern. Explain.

Answer - 44 : -

Gandhi was never satisfied with only political or economic solutions. He wanted to rectify the cultural and social backwardness in Champaran. He appealed for teachers and social workers to serve at Champaran.

Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh, two of Gandhi’s disciples, and their wives, volunteered for the work.

Several other arrived from Bombay, Poona and other distant parts of the land. Devadas, Gandhi’s youngest son, and Kasturba arrived from the ashram. Primary schools were opened in six villages. Kasturba taught the ashram rules on personal cleanliness and community sanitation. Gandhi also worked towards improving the health conditions and arranged for a doctor to volunteer his services for six months. Three medicines were made available to the poor farmers—castor oil, quinine, and sulphur ointment.

Question - 45 : -
Gandhi compromised on the material terms because the peasants had gained what no money could buy. Explain.

Answer - 45 : -

Gandhi was summoned to the offices of Sir Edward Gait, the Lieutenant Governor, with whom he had four interviews and an official commission of inquiry was ordered into the indigo sharecroppers’ situation. The commission that had Gandhi as the sole representative of the peasants, gathered a lot of evidence against the big planters, and they agreed to offer refunds to the peasants. The peasants expected repayment of the money in full but Gandhi asked for only fifty per cent. When the representative of the planters offered to refund twenty-five per cent, Gandhi agreed.

Gandhi realized that the monetary benefit that he achieved for the peasants in the way of the settlement was of less significance in comparison to the spirit of liberation they had gained. He explained that the amount of the refund was less important than the fact that the landlords had been forced to surrender a part of their money and bow down to law, bridging the divide between the landowners and the poor peasants.The peasants were made aware of their rights, their plights received a voice and they were consequently . liberated from their fear of the British.

Question - 46 : -
“Self-reliance, Indian independence and help to sharecroppers were all bound together.” Justify.

Answer - 46 : -

In Champaran, the landlords forced the peasants to enter into an arrangement to relieve them of the fifteen per cent sharecropping arrangement in return for compensation. The poor peasants were duped out of their money and they were demanding a refund. They appealed to Gandhi to fight for their cause. He resisted and was produced in a court in Motihari. Peasants flocked from around the area, and turned up in thousands to offer Gandhi their support. This planted the seeds of the first civil disobedience movement in India. Gandhi finally succeeded in making the British authorities order for reimbursement to the sharecroppers.

Though the peasants were compensated in part, they won against the system of landlord and the British government. It taught them an essential lesson in self-reliance and instilled them with courage to stand against injustice and British rule. The civil disobedience movement was the first of its kind in India, and paved way for the struggle to achieve Indian independence.

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