Flamingo Indigo - Test Papers

 CBSE TEST PAPER-01

Class 12 English Core (Indigo)

General Instructions:-

  • All questions are compulsory.
  • Question No.1 to 7 carries 3 marks each.
  • Question No. 8 to 10 caries 6 marks each.
  1. Why is Raj Kumar Shukla described as ‘resolute’?
  2. How did Gandhiji react to the Commissioner’s advice? Where did he go?
  3. Why did the servants think Gandhiji to be another peasant?
  4. Why did Gandhiji go to Lucknow in December 1916? Who met him there and why?
  5. How was Gandhiji treated at Rajendra Prasad’s house?
  6. Why was Gandhiji opposed to C.F.Andrews helping him in Champaran?
  7. What were the conditions of sharecroppers of Champaran?
  8. The Champaran episode was a turning point in Gandhiji’s life. Elucidate.
  9. Which factors helped the fear-stricken peasants of Champaran to achieve freedom?
  10. How was the Champaran episode a big success? Elucidate.

CBSE TEST PAPER-01
Class 12 English Core (Indigo)
Answer

  1. Raj Kumar Shukla wanted Gandhiji to accompany him to his village Champaran. Gandhiji was busy at that time and had to visit other parts of India. But Shukla followed him for months. Finally Gandhiji had to fix a date for his visit to Champaran .This incident describes him as resolute.
  2. Gandhiji began by trying to get the facts. First he visited the secretary of the British landlord’s association. The secretary told him that they could give no information to an outsider. Then Gandhiji called on the British official commissioner of the Tirhut division Gandhiji was asked to leave the division at once by the commissioner. He did not leave; instead, he proceeded to Motihari, the capital of Champaran.
  3. At Rajendra Prasad’s house, the servants thought Gandhiji was another peasant because he was quite simple in his dress and manners. He never presented himself as a great leader.
  4. Gandhiji went to Lucknow to attend the annual convention of the Indian National Congress. A poor peasant named Raj Kumar met him there. He was from Champaran and wanted Gandhiji to come to his village to help the poor sharecroppers.
  5. Since Gandhiji was quite simple in his dress and manners, the servants at Rajendra Prasad’s house mistook him to be a peasant. They did not allow him to draw water from the well lest it will get polluted. They let him stay on the grounds.
  6. As C.F. Andrews was a foreigner, Gandhiji opposed to take any help from him. Though Andrews was a social worker in Champaran and was a great follower of Gandhiji. He felt that a foreigner’s help should not be sought to free India of the Englishmen. According to him self-reliance was of utmost importance.
  7. The peasants of Champaran were tenants of British landlords. They were growing Indigo on 15 percent of their holding and surrendering the harvest as rent to the British landlord, as per a long-term sharecropping agreement. But when Indigo price fell due to synthetic indigo developed in Germany, the landlords obtained agreement from the peasants and asked to pay them compensation, to which some of the peasants resisted and fought their case in court.
  8. Before the Champaran episode, Gandhji was not aware of the reality of the peasants of his motherland. On the insistence of the sharecropper, Raj Kumar Shukla, Gandhiji came to Champaran and saw the plight of poor peasants. It worked as an eye-opener for him and he decided to fight for their rights. The Britishers exploited the farmers and forced them to grow indigo. When it was not needed, they had to render compensation in order to free themselves from the condition.Gandhiji was shocked to see that they had approached the court for help. He gathered them and thus freed those from the fear of the Britishers.The peasants had by now realized that they too had their rights. Finally the Britishers left their land thus ending indigo share cropping. Through the Champaran episode, he made it clear to the British that they cannot rule on other Indians in their own country.
  9. The peasants were sharecroppers with the British planters. According to an old agreement, the peasants had to produce indigo on 15 percent of the land and give it as rent to the landlords. Meantime, Germany had developed synthetic indigo. So, the British did not require the indigo crop. To release the farmers from old agreement, they demanded compensation from them. As most of the farmers were illiterate, they agreed to it. Some of them refused to do so. Lawyers were then engaged to take the matter to the court. At that time, Gandhiji appeared in Champaran. He fought a long battle for the poor peasants and managed to get justice for them. The peasants now became fearless and became aware about their rights. Along with the political and economic struggle, Gandhiji worked on the social level also. He arranged for the education, health and hygiene of the peasants. They were self-reliant and thus, free from rule of British people.
  10. The fight and the success of Champaran was the success of Civil Disobedience Movement started by Gandhiji. It was the attempt of the poor peasants who were helpless to the fraud meted out to them. One of the sharecroppers, Raj Kumar Shukla, contacted him and told him about the condition of the peasants in his village. Gandhiji’s presence in Bihar raised a huge row in Champaran. Thousands of peasants held a demonstration to protest against the government. The government was baffled. The orders for Gandhiji to leave Champaran were disobeyed by him. After which an inquiry commission was set to collect the information, which later ordered the sharecroppers to get 25 percent of their money. Thus, the rule of British had to leave, and it was huge success for the farmers.