Indigo Short Question Answer
Indigo Short Question Answer
Class 12 English – Indigo Short Answer Type Questions
Short Answer Type Questions
Q.1. What had happened in December 1916 in Lucknow ?
Ans. December, 1916 in Lucknow, there was organised the annual convention of the Indian National Congress Party. In that convention, there were 2301 delegates and many visitors.
Q.2. Who was Rajkumar Shukla ? What was his speciality ?
Ans. Rajkumar Shukla was a peasant looking like any other peasant in India, poor and emaciated from Champaran. He was illiterate but resolute, different from other peasants in this mean.
Q.3. Why did Rajkumar Shukla want to meet Gandhiji ?
Ans. Rajkumar Shukla wanted to meet Gandhiji to complain about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar and somebody had probably told to speak to Gandhiji.
Q.4. What had happened with Rajkumar Shukla and Gandhiji at Rajendra Prasad’s house ?
Ans. At Rajendra Prasad’s house, the servants let stay Rajkumar Shukla on the grounds with Gandhiji. Even they did not permit Gandhiji to draw water from the well lest some drops from his bucket pollute the entire source.
Class 12 English Prose – Indigo Short Question Answer
Q.5. Gandhiji commented “It was an extraordinary thing in those days”. Explain ?
Ans. Gandhiji commented, “It was an extraordinary thing in those days,” signifies that in those days, to harbour a man like him was an extraodinary thing which professor Malkani did staying Gandhiji in his home for two days.
Q.6. Why did Gandhiji chide the lawyers ?
Ans. Gandhiji chided the lawyers for collecting big fee from the sharecroppers. Muzzafarpur lawyers were charging high fees from the poor sharecroppers who were actually unable to maintain their livelihood.
Q.7. What was the chief commercial crop in Champaran ? What was the long – term contract between the landlords and the tenants ?
Ans. Indigo was the chief commercial crop of Champaran. According to the long – term contract, all the tenants had to plant three twentieths or 15 percent of their holdings with Indigo and surrender the entire Indigo harvest as rent.
Q.8. Why did Gandhiji receive a summons to appear in court next day ?
Ans. Gandhiji received a summons to appear in the court next day because he disobeyed the order of the police superintendent to quit Champaran immediately. He was going to the nearby village to see the maltreated peasant when he received the order to return to town.
Class 12 English Prose – Indigo Short Question Answer
Q.9. Why did Gandhiji disregard the order to leave Champaran ?
Ans. Gandhiji disregarded the order to leave Champaran because he had come there for a mission and he wrote that he couldn’t be ordered in his own country to leave any place.
Q.10. What concern did Rajendra Prasad, Brij Kishor Babu, Maulana Mazharul Huq and several other prominent lawyers show to Gandhiji ?
Ans. Rajendra Prasad, Brij Kishor Babu, Maulana Mazharul Huq and several other prominent lawyers showed a concern to Gandhiji that what would they do if Gandhiji was sentenced to prison, there would be nobody to advise them and they would go home, in that situation.
Q.11. Who was Reverend J.Z. Hodge ? What did he tell about the settlement between Gandhiji and the inquiry commission for sharecropping ?
Ans. Reverend J.Z. Hodge was a British missionary in Champaran who observed the entire episode at close range. He told about the settlement that” Thinking probably that he (Gandhiji) would not give way the representatives of the planters offered to return to the extent of 25 percent and to his (J.Z. Hodge) amazement Mr. Gandhi took him at his word, thus breaking the deadlock.
Q.12. What did Gandhiji do for the overall development of Champaran ?
Ans. For the overall development of Champaran, Gandhiji did a lot. He arranged volunteers, doctors, teachers for services. He instructed Mrs. Gandhi to talk to women. Schools, hospitals were opened. Medicines were arranged and many day – to – day problems were solved.
Q.13. What was the contribution of Kasturbai (wife of Gandhiji) for the women of Champaran ?
Ans. For the women of Champaran, Kasturbai (wife of Gandhiji) talked to women, improved filthy state of their clothes, started to encourage them, educate them and told them about the importance of hygineness.
Q.14. Who was Charles Freer Andrews ? Why did Gandhiji not take his help for his movement against landlords ?
Ans. Charles Freer Andrews was an English pacifist who had become a devoted follower of Gandhiji. Gandhiji didn’t take help of him for the movement against landlords because in that unequal fight, taking his help showed the weaknesses of their heart. He should not be sought as a prop because he was an Englishman.
Indigo Short Question Answer
Q.15. Who was Rajkumar Shukla ? Why did he come to Lucknow ?
Ans. 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.
Q.16. Where is Champaran district situated ? What did the peasants grow there ? How did they use their harvest ?
Ans. 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.
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Q.17. How did the Indian peasants react to the new agreement that released them from sharecropping arrangement ?
Ans. 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.
Q.18. Why do you think Gandhi was not permitted to draw water from Rajendra Prasad’s well at Patna ?
Ans. 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.
Q.19. Why did Gandhi decide to go first to Muzaffarpur before going to Champaran ?
Ans. Gandhi wanted to obtain more complete information about conditions than Shukla was capable of imparting. Muzaffarpur lawyers, who frequently represented peasant groups in courts, informed Gandhi about their cases.
Q.20. Why did Gandhi chide the lawyers ? What according to him was the real relief for the sharecroppers ?
Ans. 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.
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Q.21. How did Gandhi begin his mission in Champaran ? How far did his efforts prove successful ?
Ans. 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.
Q.22. How did Gandhi react to the commissioner’s advice ? Where did he go and how did people react to his arrival ?
Ans. 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.
Q.23. ‘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 ?
Ans. 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.
Q.24. What according to Gandhi was the beginning of the poor peasants’ ‘Liberation from fear of the British’ ?
Ans. The next morning the town of Motihari was black with peasants. I had heard that a Mahatma who wanted to help them was in trouble with the authorities. They spontaneously demonstrated, in thousands, arround the courthouse. Gandhiji called their action of protest as their liberation from fear of the British.
Indigo Short Question Answer
Q.25. Why did Gandhiji feel that taking the Champaran case to the court was useless ?
Ans. 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.
Q.26. What was the “conflict of duties” in which Gandhi was involved ?
Ans. 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.
Q.27. What according to Rajendra Prasad, was the upshot of the consultations of the lawyers regarding the injustice to sharecroppers ?
Ans. 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.
Q.28. “Civil disobedience had triumphed, the first time in modern India.” How ?
Ans. 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. The judge released him without bail. Several days later Gandhi received an official letter. The case against him had been dropped. Thus, civil disobedience had triumphed.
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Q.29. What do you think, led Gandhi to exclaim “The battle of Champaran is won” ?
Ans. 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.
Q.30. How did Gandhi and the lawyers try to secure justice for the sharecroppers ?
Ans. 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.
Q.31. What was the reaction of Gandhi and his associates when he was summoned to the lieutenant governor ?
Ans. 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.
Q.32. What was the outcome of the four protracted interviews Gandhiji had with the Lieutenant Governor ?
Ans. 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.
Q.33. Why did the big planters agree in principle to make refund to the peasants ?
Ans. 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.
Q.34. What amount of repayment did the big planters think Gandhi would demand ? What did Gandhi ask ? What amount was finally settled ?
Ans. 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. Gandhi was adamant on 50 per cent. The deadlock was broken when Gandhi agreed to a settlement of 25 per cent refund to peasants.
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Q.35. Which other spheres besides political or economic fields received Gandhi’s attention during his long stay in Champaran ?
Ans. The cultural and social backwardness of the Champaran areas pained Gandhi. He appealed for teachers. Several persons responded to his call. 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.
Q.36. “This was typical Gandhi pattern” observes Louis Fischer. What do you learn about Gandhian politics from the extract ‘Indigo’ ?
Ans. 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.
Q.37. How did Gandhi teach his followers a lesson of self – reliance ?
Ans. During the Champaran action, Gandhi’s lawyer friends thought it would be good if Mr. 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.
Q.38. Where is Champaran ? Why did Gandhi go there ?
Ans. Champaran is a district of the present day Bihar. It is in the foothills of the towering Himalayas near the kingdom of Nepal. In December 1916 Gandhi went to Lucknow to join annual convention of Congress. During the proceedings, a peasant of Champaran requested him to visit his district to see the miserable condition of the peasants there. On the fixed date he went there.
Q.39. What was the ancient arrangement between the peasants and landlords at Champaran ?
Ans. At Champaran the ancient arrangement between them was that the peasants there were share croppers. Most of the arable land there was divided into large estates owned by English men and worked by Indian tenants. The landlords compelled them to plant 15 percent of their holdings with indigo and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent.
Q.40. What was an extraordinary thing in those pre – independence days ?
Ans. In those pre – independence days, it was very difficult for a government official to give shelter to a man like Gandhi and other leaders who were fighting for freedom. In smaller localities, the Indians were afraid of showing sympathy for the advocates of home rule.
. What was an extraordinary thing in those pre – independence days ?
Ans. In those pre – independence days, it was very difficult for a government official to give shelter to a man like Gandhi and other leaders who were fighting for freedom. In smaller localities, the Indians were afraid of showing sympathy for the advocates of home rule.
Q.41. What did Gandhi do after knowing the miserable condition of the farmers at Champaran ?
Ans. Gandhi began by trying to get the facts. First he visited the secretary of the British landlord’s association who denied to give him any information. Then he called on the British official commissioner of the Tirhut division who proceeded to bully him and advised him to leave. He then went to Motihari, which was then the capital of Champaran with several lawyers and continued his investigation.
Q.42. When was the beginning of their liberation from fear of the British ? Write your answer in reference to the farmers of Champaran ?
Ans. When a report came to Gandhi that a peasant had been maltreated in a nearby village, he started out to see him. But the police stopped him and served him a notice to leave Champaran immediately. The peasants had nearby heard that a Mahatma who wanted to help them was in trouble with the authorities. They came to Motihari in large numbers to support their champion. Their gathering in thousands around the court house was the beginning of their liberation from fear of the British.
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Q.43. Prove that Gandhi always kept a watch on his Ashram during his long stay in Champaran ?
Ans. During his long stay in Champaran, Gandhi kept a long distance watch on his Ashram near Ahmedabad. He sent regular instructions by mail and asked for financial accounts. He wrote to the residents that it was time to fill in the old laterine trenches and dig new ones otherwise the old ones would begin to smell bad.
Q.44. Why was Gandhi not allowed to draw water from the well at Rajendra Prasad’s house in Patna ?
Ans. Gandhi was not allowed to draw water from the well at Rajendra Prasad’s house at Patna lest some drops from his bucket pollute the entire source. His servants thought that he was an untouchable.
Q.45. Why did Gandhi chide the lawyers who called on him to brief him about the poor share croppers ?
Ans. Muzaffarpur lawyers who frequently represented peasant groups in court came to meet Gandhi. They told him about their cases and reported the size of their fees. Gandhi chided them for getting big fees from the poor sharecroppers.
Q.47. Why was the government baffled when Gandhi presented himself in the court ?
Ans. When Gandhi presented himself in the court, the government was baffled because thousands of people gathered around the court in support of Gandhi. They demonstrated against Britishers. The officials felt powerless without Gandhi’s cooperation.
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Q.48. Why did Rajkumar Shukla want to take Gandhi to Champaran ?
Ans. Rajkumar Shukla was one of the poor impoverished sharecroppers of the Champaran district. He had gone to the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress to take Gandhi to Champaran to fight the injustice and the exploitation of the sharecroppers.
Q.50. Why did Gandhi decide to go to Muzaffarpur before going to Champaran ?
Ans. Muzaffarpur was en route to Champaran. Gandhi decided to first go to Muzaffarpur because he wanted more complete information about the conditions in Champaran than Shukla was capable of imparting. It did prove helpful as the lawyers in Muzaffarpur, who frequently represented the peasant groups in the courts, briefed Gandhi about their cases.
Q.51. How did the Champaran peasants react when they heard that a Mahatma had come to help them ?
Ans. Gandhi received a summon to appear in court. The next day thousands of peasants had assembled in Motihari. They didn’t know much about Gandhi. But they knew that he had come there only to take up their cause. Thousands of them held a demonstration.
Q.52. Why did Gandhi feel that taking the Champaran case to the court was useless ?
Ans. When Gandhi got to know about the plight of the peasant groups in Champaran from his discussion with the lawyers, he came to the conclusion that the poor peasants were so crushed and fear – stricken that law courts were useless in their case. Going to courts overburdened the sharecroppers with heavy litigation expenses. What really needed to be done was to make them free from fear.
Q.53. What were the terms of the Indigo contract between the Britishp landlords and the Indian peasants ?
Ans. The terms of the Indigo contract between the British and the peasants were sharecropper tenants and had to plant 15 % of the land holding with indigo and surrender the entire indigo harvest to the British landlords as rent.
Q.54. What made the Lieutenant – Governor drop the case against Gandhi ?
Ans. Thousands of peasants held a spontaneous demonstration in Motihari. The officials felt helpless and the government was baffled. The pressure of the people was mounting. The judge didn’t want to aggravate the situation. He held up the sentence for several days and finally released Gandhi without bail, thus dropping the case against Gandhi.
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Q.55. Why did Gandhi tell the court that he was involved in a ‘conflict of duties’ ?
Ans. Gandhi told the court that he was involved in a ‘conflict of duties’, i.e. he must not set a bad example by breaking the law (by refusing to comply with the eviction order), but he must also render humanitarian and national service for which he had come to Champaran.
Q.56. Though the sharecroppers of Champaran received only one – fourth of the compensation, how can the Champaran struggle still be termed a huge success and victory ?
Ans. The Champaran episode began as an attempt to ease the sufferings of a large number of poor peasants. Gandhi admits that what he had done was a very ordinary thing. He declared that the British could not order him about his own country. He got spontaneous support of thousands of people. The efforts of Gandhi and support of people made Champaran struggle a huge success and victory.
Q.57. The battle of Champaran is won ! ‘What led Gandhi to make this remark ?
Ans. Gandhi asked the lawyers what they would do if he was arrested. The lawyers first replied that they would return home, but when Gandhiji asked them for a solution about the injustice to the sharecroppers, they realised their mistake. They thought that when a total stranger was ready to go to jail for the poor peasants, their going home would be utterly shameful. They decided to follow Gandhi into jail. This made Gandhi exclaim, “The battle of Champaran is won,” as he was happy to have convinced the lawyers and won their trust.
Q.58. How did Gandhi show that he cared for the cultural and social backwardness of Champaran villages ?
Ans. The peasants of Champaran’s villages were culturally and socially backward, besides being crushed and fear – stricken by the British due to the sharecropper agreement. Gandhi freed them from exploitation by teaching them that they had rights and also supporters of their cause. The backwardness was tackled by opening primary schools, improving the healthcare facilities and teaching the villagers personal cleanliness and community sanitation.
Q.59. Why did Gandhi oppose when his friend Andrews offered to stay in Champaran and help the peasants ?
Ans. Gandhi was opposed to CF Andrews helping him in Champaran because he wanted the lawyers to be self – reliant and know their own strengths. He told them that their cause was just and they must rely upon themselves to win the battle. He did not want them seek a prop in Mr Andrews because he happened to be an Englishman.
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