Prose - 5. Indigo

(i) a sharecropper.

Under an ancient arrangement, the Champaran peasants were sharecroppers. Rajkumar Shukla was one of them.

(i) poor.

(iii) illiterate.

Rajkumar Shukla was poor and emaciated. He was also illiterate.

Rajkumar Shukla is being described as ‘resolute’ because of his persistence. He first went to Lucknow to ask Gandhi to come to Champaran with him, but Gandhi could not go immediately. So, he accompanied Gandhi everywhere and did not leave his side for weeks till Gandhi came to his village. This shows his fortitude and determination and hence he is described as being ‘resolute’

The servants knew Shukla as a poor peasant who pestered their master to help the indigo sharecroppers. Since Gandhi accompanied him, they thought that Gandhi was also another peasant.

Gandhi had his first meeting with Shukla in the annual convention of the Indian National Congress, at Lucknow. Following this, Gandhi visited Cawnpore, other parts of India, his ashram near Ahmedabad and Calcutta before his arrival at Champaran.

The landlords compelled the peasants to plant 15 per cent of their holdings with indigo and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. This was done by long-term contract.

The British wanted the peasants to pay compensation to be released from the 15 per cent agreement, because Germany had developed synthetic dye.

The synthetic indigo would have lowered the price of natural indigo, as synthetic indigo can be produced much faster than natural indigo. This would have caused losses to the British.

The ideas of satyagraha and non-violence state that by using the truth, in a peaceful and non-violent manner, it is possible to gain independence. Some of the instances are as follows.

Gandhi first tried to gather the facts. He did this by visiting the secretary of the British landlord’s association and the British official commissioner of the Tirhut division in which the Champaran district lay. He was denied access to information on both counts.

However, Gandhi persisted. When he learned of a peasant who had been maltreated, he went to see the peasant. On the way, he was met by the police superintendent’s messenger with an order to quit Champaran immediately. He refused to obey, citing that he had to listen to his voice of conscience. Many peasants who were with him and his prominent lawyer friends, joined him in this act of civil disobedience. Finally, the Lieutenant-Governor of the province ordered the case to be dropped.

Gandhi agreed to a settlement of 25 per cent refund to the farmers because he thought that the amount of the refund was less important than the fact that the landlords had been obliged to surrender part of the money and, with it, part of their prestige.

As a result of the episode, the peasants saw that they had rights and defenders. They learned courage and self-reliance.

Also, within a few years the British planters abandoned their estates, which reverted to the peasants. Indigo sharecropping disappeared.

Gandhi saw the cultural and social backwardness in the Champaran villages and wanted to do something about it immediately. Primary schools were opened in six villages. The ashram rules on personal cleanliness and community sanitation by Kasturbai. Gandhi also got a doctor to volunteer his services for six months to improve the miserable health conditions.

Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning-point in his life, because it was the first satyagraha movement in India and it had given back courage and self-reliance back to the Champaran peasants. Hence, Gandhi considered it important in his life and in the course of Indian independence.

Gandhi was able to influence the lawyers by leading by example. Gandhi was prepared to go to prison for the sake of the peasants. This prompted them to stay in Champaran and volunteer to follow him into jail, if there should be arrests

In smaller localities, the average Indian was afraid to show sympathy for advocates of ‘home-rule’.

We know that ordinary people too contributed to the freedom movement by the following instances.

In Motihari, thousands of poor peasants participated in spontaneous demonstration around the courthouse. This movement was started by an ordinary peasant called Rajkumar Shukla because of his resilient persistence. This resulted in the first satyagraha movement in India, thus contributing to the freedom movement.

In Champaran, Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh, two young men who had just joined Gandhi as disciples, and their wives, volunteered for teaching in school. This improved the social and cultural backwardness in Champaran. A doctor also volunteered his services in Champaran for six months.

In this story, Gandhi has said that the real relief for the poor peasants is to be free from fear.

Today, even after Independence, poor literacy levels, lack of sufficient nutrition, inaccessibility of sanitary facilities plague the poor of India. Although many government measures and schemes have been put in place, lack of awareness of such schemes lead to under-utilisation of these helping measures.

However, lately a new trend has been rising. Non-governmental organisations, private companies as part of their ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) programmes and concerned individuals have pitched-in in their own communities to improve and uplift the standard and quality of life for the poor and disadvantaged groups. As people help each other and develop self-reliance and courage, the poor of India will surely be free from fear.

A good leader is willing to listen. They should listen so as to gather facts and to gain a multi-faceted view of the problem. Gandhi did this by visiting the secretary of the British landlord’s association and the British official commissioner of the Tirhut division in which the Champaran district lay to gather facts about the problem of the indigo sharecroppers.

A good leader is willing to lead by example. Gandhi was prepared to go to prison for the sake of the peasants. This prompted them to stay in Champaran and volunteer to follow him into jail.

A good leader seeks a wholesome solution. Gandhi was not interested in purely political problems. He wanted to remedy the cultural and social backwardness in the Champaran villages. He appealed to teachers and a doctor and started six primary schools. His wife, Kasturbai taught the women about personal cleanliness and community sanitation.

• Prosecutor

• Judge

• Trial

• Pleading guilty

• Sentence

• Consultation

• Drop a case

The sentences in the text which are in ‘direct speech’ are:

• When I first visited Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in Sevagram, in central India, he said, “I will tell you how it happened that I decided to urge the departure of the British. It was in 1917.”

• During the proceedings, Gandhi recounted, “a peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant in India, poor and emaciated, and said, ‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. I am from Champaran, and I want you to come to my district’!’’

• and somebody had probably said, “Speak to Gandhi.”

• “Fix a date,” he begged.

• Impressed by the sharecropper’s tenacity and story Gandhi said, ‘‘I have to be in Calcutta on such-and-such a date. Come and meet me and take me from there.”

• ‘‘It was an extraordinary thing ‘in those days,’’ Gandhi commented, “for a government professor to harbour a man like me”.

• He said, ‘‘I have come to the conclusion that we should stop going to law courts. Taking such cases to the courts does litte good. Where the peasants are so crushed and fear-stricken, law courts are useless. The real relief for them is to be free from fear.’’

• ‘‘The commissioner,’’ Gandhi reports, ‘‘proceeded to bully me and advised me forthwith to leave Tirhut.’’

• He was involved, he told the court, in a “conflict of duties”— on the one hand, not to set a bad example as a lawbreaker; on the other hand, to render the “humanitarian and national service” for which he had come.

• He disregarded the order to leave, “not for want of respect for lawful authority, but in obedience to the higher law of our being, the voice of conscience”.

• “They thought, amongst themselves, that Gandhi was totally a stranger, and yet he was prepared to go to prison for the sake of the peasants; if they, on the other hand, being not only residents of the adjoining districts but also those who claimed to have served these peasants, should go home, it would be shameful desertion.”

• “But how much must we pay?” they asked Gandhi.

• “There he seemed adamant,” writes Reverend J. Z. Hodge

• “Thinking probably that he would not give way, the representative of the planters offered to refund to the extent of 25 per cent, and to his amazement Mr. Gandhi took him at his word, thus breaking the deadlock.”

• ‘‘Look, there is no box or cupboard here for clothes. The sari I am wearing is the only one I have.”

• ‘‘What I did,” he explained, “was a very ordinary thing. I declared that the British could not order me about in my own country.”

• He said, ‘‘You think that in this unequal fight it would be helpful if we have an Englishman on our side. This shows the weakness of your heart. The cause is just and you must rely upon yourselves to win the battle. You should not seek a prop in Mr. Andrews because he happens to be an Englishman’’.

• ‘‘He had read our minds correctly,’’ Rajendra Prasad comments, “and we had no reply… Gandhi in this way taught us a lesson in self-reliance’’.

Explanation:

The author uses quotations in his narrations to strengthen the effectiveness of narration. It adds emotion and a dramatic effect to the narration. In some cases, it shows the thought process of the person in the story. Quotations also preserve some memorable lines spoken by the person in its original form.

In all the cases, the comma is used to separate subordinate clause from main clause if the subordinate clause precedes it, and is omitted if it comes after the main clause.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Facts of the case:

• The tragedy happened during the midnight of 2-3 December 1984.

• It happened at Union Carbide India Limited.

• An estimated 40 tonnes of Methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas was leaked from the plant.

• Official records sate that the Bhopal gas tragedy has killed 3,787 people.

• Others estimate around 5,50,000 injuries or permanently disabling injuries .

My arguments:

• The tragedy could have been caused due to negligence.

• It could have been caused due to sabotage.

• Delay in diagnosis and treatment at the hospital could have spiked the death rate. This could have been due to ignorance about industrial disasters.

• The public could have delayed going to the hospital until the last minute.

A possible settlement:

• There should be strict adherence to standards set for industries and regular inspection on the same.

• Periodic maintenance checks should be conducted on crucial industrial equipment

• Adequate security should be employed for important industrial equipment

• Hospital staff should be aware of possible industrial disasters and equipped to handle the same.

• Public awareness should be created on industrial disasters .

Narmada Dam Project

Facts of the case:

• Narmada dam project, also known as Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) is the largest structure to be built across the Narmada river.

• It is one of the 30 dams planned on the Narmada River.

• The dam is 1.2-km-long and 163 metres deep.

My arguments:

Pros

• The dam is expected to provide irrigation to farmers and drinking water supply.

• The dam will produce hydroelectricity, which will be shared between Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra

Cons

• The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), a social movement, led by social activist Medha Patkar, raises several environmental and social concerns due to the dam.

• Nearly 40,000 people could be displaced.

• Lower-lying villages could be submerged.

A possible settlement:

• Displaced people should be suitably relocated and rehabilitated.

• Social and environmental impact of the dam on the people and the land should be studied carefully.

• The expected benefits of the dam, like irrigation to the farmer should be planned and executed in a way that benefits the farmers.

• The electricity produced should be evacuated and distributed as planned.