Kendriya Vidyalaya Tiruvannamalai

Term II
ENGLISH ASL PROJECT

Class: 12th
Submitted By: APARNA DEVI S
Submitted To: Mr. P. Kannan PGT English
 Acknowledgement

I would like to extend my sincere and heartfelt obligation towards all those who
have helped me in making this project.

Without their active guidance, help, cooperation and encouragement, I would not
have been able to present the project on time. I am extremely thankful and pay
my sincere gratitude to my teacher KANNAN. P for her valuable guidance and
support for completion of this project.

I also acknowledge with a deep sense of reverence, my gratitude towards my

parents, other faculty members of the school and friends for their valuable
suggestions given to me in completing the project.

Date: 03 February

2022 Place:

Tiruvannamalai

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project work o INDIGO SHARE CROPPING

based on the curriculum of CBSE has been completed by APARNA DEVI
S of Class-XII Section A of Kendriya Vidyalaya Tiruvannamalai. The
above-mentioned project work has been completed under my guidance during
the academic year 2021-22.
 OBJECTIVE

1.What is Indigo Sharecropping?

2.History of indigo sharecropping

3.Natural Indigo harvesting

4.Chemical Properties of Indigo

5.Difference between natural and chemical indigo

6.Advantages of natural indigo over chemical indigo

 What is Indigo Sharecropping?
The sharecropping system required the tenants to grow indigo, a major
commercial crop, on 15 percent of their landholdings. Every year, the grown
indigo harvest was given as rent to the landlord. However, on hearing about the
German synthetic indigo, the British decided to draw a new agreement with
peasants.

History of indigo sharecropping

In the book Indigo, the author (Louis Fischer) describes a vital event in India’s
history, the first Civil Disobedience movement which started by Mahatma Gandhi
at Champaran in 1916. The problem which was faced by the sharecroppers in
Champaran was that all the tenants were forced to plant 15% of their land with
indigo crops.

This had been a long-term contract between the sharecroppers and the British
planters/estate owners which had an adverse effect on the sharecroppers and their
families. Gandhi then launched what is said to be the first instance of Satyagraha
in India and the movement ended with a victory as the English landlords were
forced to return 25% of the money which they had extorted from the
sharecroppers.
Indigo is a story to glorify the struggle of Mahatma Gandhi against the Britishers
for the peasants of Champaran, Bihar. This war lasted a whole year but didn’t
come empty handed. Britishers agreed to meet the demands of the peasants.
Gandhi didn’t stop after the victory; he took social matters in his hand. He helped
them with education, personal hygiene, their health and worked to build their self-
confidence. In the end, he taught the peasants a very important lesson of self-
confidence and self-sufficiency.

1.The Inception

Gandhi Ji tells Louis about the first time when he encountered this problem which
was the year 1917. Gandhi Ji had gone to the December 1916 annual meeting of
the Indian national convention of the Indian national congress in Lucknow when
a poor peasant came up to him. He was sitting on his haunches waiting for
Mahatma Gandhi.

That man was Rajkumar Shukla from Champaran who wanted Gandhi to visit his
district. It was located near the kingdom of Nepal in Bihar. Shukla was a
sharecropper who was seeking justice against the injustice pulled by the English
landlord’s at champaran. Someone told him that he should ask Gandhiji to help
him as Gandhiji gained his reputation of fighting injustice against the britishers
but in his own way, by following nonviolence.

2.Rajkumar Shukla’s Resoluteness

Rajkumar Shukla had come to the congress session to complain about the
widespread injustice of the landlord system in Bihar. This is where he met Gandhi
and requested him to visit Champaran to see the unjust system prevailing there.
At that time Gandhi had to visit many other parts of India but Shukla was adamant
and begged Gandhi to fix a date. This impressed Gandhi who in turn asked Shukla
to meet him in Calcutta (Kolkata) and take him to Champaran from there.
From Calcutta, both men boarded a train for Patna. There Shukla took him to the
house of a lawyer named Rajendra Prasad but he was not present at that time. The
news of Gandhiji’ arrival in the village of Bihar spread like wildfire. Many
lawyers and groups of peasants came in large numbers to support him in his
mission against injustice and inequality.

3.Off to Muzaffarpur
To obtain more information about the condition of Champaran, Gandhi decided
to go to Muzaffarpur first. There he stayed for 2 days with professor Malkani.
The news of his arrival quickly spread through Muzaffarpur and then to
Champaran.

4.Landlords of Champaran
Most of the fertile land in Champaran was owned by Britishers while the Indian
tenants worked for them. Since at that time Synthetic Indigo had been developed
by Germany, the indigo plantation was not very profitable. Hence the owners
obtained agreements from the sharecroppers(sharecroppers) to pay for being
released from the 15% rule. Seeing that the Britishers no longer needed Indigo
from these peasants, they asked for compensation in return to free them.

This was not acceptable to the poor peasants of Champaran. Even though many
of the peasants were illiterate, they saw through the trick of the landlords and
were not ready to pay. Those who had signed before wanted their money back.

5.Summon to Appear in Court

The first step which Gandhi took was to meet the secretary of the British landlord
association which did not yield any result. Afterward, he met the commissioner
who warned Gandhi to leave but Gandhi did not leave. Gandhi then went to the
capital of Champaran, Motihari. A huge crowd greeted him at the station. After a
little while, he got an official notice from the authorities to leave Champaran
immediately but he made it clear that he would disobey the orders. Next, Gandhi
received a summon to appear in court the next day. Thereafter he prepared a full
report to the viceroy. The next morning thousands of peasants demonstrated in
support of Gandhi. This was the beginning of the liberation of people’s fear of
the Britishers.
6.The Reaction of The Britishers

The government was baffled on seeing so many people backing Gandhi. The
authorities wanted to postpone the trial but Gandhi himself protested against the
delay. He told the judge that he was caught in a ‘conflict of duties. It was his duty
not to set a bad example as a lawbreaker but justice to the thousands of poor
sharecroppers was more important. The court didn’t deliver the judgment for
several days. After seeing the support Gandhiji was getting, the British
Government decided to put a halt in the satyagraha. They arrested Gandhiji on
the basis of creating disturbance in the district and being the cause of unrest.

When the news reached the magistrate George Chandra, he visited Gandhi in the
jail at Motahari. He told Gandhi that he will pay a fine of 100 Rs to bring him out
from there but Gandhi being Gandhi, dismissed this idea. His being in the jail,
revolted people. People in large numbers protested and rallied to demand his
release. The British government was left with no choice but to release Gandhiji,
they did it unwillingly.

7.Commission of Inquiry

Gandhi had many interviews with the lieutenant-governor in the upcoming days.
The lieutenant-governor appointed an official commission of inquiry into the
indigo sharecroppers’ situation. Gandhi was made the representative of the
sharecroppers. He stayed in Champaran for almost 7 months. There were multiple
pieces of evidence of the landlords and British officials for illegally taking money
from the sharecroppers. Gandhi demanded back 50% but the landlords and British
officials offered to refund only 25%. Gandhi finally agreed because this was the
first instance that the British government had backed down.

8.Social and Cultural Uplifting

While staying in the Champaran village, Gandhi saw the social and cultural
backwardness which was prevalent throughout. He wanted to immediately do
something about it. 2 men Narhari Parikh and Mahadev Desai joined him as
disciples. Many people came from other parts of the country to join the cause. As
a result, Primary schools were opened in 6 villages, and many awareness
programs such as cleanliness and sanitation were started by other people.

9.Impact of the Champaran Episode on Gandhi and India

The Champaran episode was a turning point in Gandhi's life and Indian History.
It was more than just a simple victory against the Britishers, this incident showed
the Britishers that the people of India were capable of standing against them.
Gandhi tried to mold a new free India, thus paving a way for self-reliance. From
this experience, Gandhiji learned a lot about himself. Before this incident, he only
worked for the people of Gujarat. This was the first time he won outside his native
town, Gujarat.
His credibility touched a massive height in Gujarat itself. People were more aware
of him and he became a threat in the eyes of the British Government. They started
taking him seriously after Gandhi dismissed the appeal of leaving the district of
Champaran which he signed at the time of arrival in the district. This news
reached every ear of the nation but when it reached Ahmedabad, Gujarat club’s
legal fraternity decided to make this great man their president.

10.People with whom Gandhi was Associated with.

There were many people Gandhi came across while spending time in
CHamparan. Few became close to him during his stay. The first person that came
in contact with Gandhi was JB Kriplani, a lawyer by profession. He met Gandhi
at the station of Muzaffarpur when he arrived at the station. Kriplani and Gandhi
then met Brajkishore Prasad. Later they met Rajendra Prasad, a scholar from
Calcutta.
 Natural Indigo harvesting:

When you are harvesting indigo, you need to collect the leaves first. Many people
simply bundle leaves and small branches for processing. Some who cultivate
indigo for dye suggest you start by soaking the leaves in water overnight. The
next day, mix in builder's lime to achieve the fade blue coloration.

Chemical Properties of Indigo

Indigo dye is a dark blue crystalline powder that sublimes at 390–392 °C (734–
738 °F). It is insoluble in water, alcohol, or ether, but soluble in DMSO,
chloroform, nitrobenzene, and concentrated sulfuric acid. The chemical formula
of indigo is C16H10N2O2.

Difference between natural and chemical indigo

Chemically, synthetic indigo and natural indigo dye are exactly the same.
“Natural indigo has less yield than synthetic indigo because it is less pure,”
Sanchez says. “And the shade is duller compared to synthetic indigo again
because of impurities.” But the dye process is the same.
 Advantages of natural indigo over chemical indigo
There’s a magnetic lure when one spots an indigo-white creation. Designers are
at it nationally and globally, and retail players peddle hard-to-resist indigo
collections. An outfit is purchased, worn and there’s no dearth of compliments.
The magic stays until the fabric is put to wash.

The colour runs, and runs some more, with each wash. None of the DIY tips help.
At times, one doesn’t have to wait till the fabric is washed. A friend ended up
with blue on her palms hours after wearing an indigo kurta that cost her a few
thousand; another saw, to her horror, a white palazzo takes on a blue tinge
wherever it was in contact with the indigo kurta. Hilarious horror tales are
aplenty.
The bitter truth lies in the retail sector using synthetic, chemical indigo. Those
who painstakingly work with natural dyes, like Bina and Keshav Rao of Creative
Bee Foundation and Ratna Krishna Kumar of Aranya Naturals, are observing the
increasing use of chemical indigo and consumers being taken for a ride.
“Synthetic indigo, from a chemical source, is less expensive compared to the
plant-based one,” says Bina. She recalls the time when Kadapa boasted of a large
indigo farm. “A foreigner purchased the farm and the farmer has now turned a
realtor. We now source indigo from Tamil Nadu,” she says.
A kilo of plant-based indigo, in cake form, costs up to Rs. 2000. In vats, the cakes
are treated with ash water, lime and other ingredients. The liquor is green. “When
a fabric is dipped and taken out, it comes in contact with the air and oxidation
turns it blue. Hence people call indigo a magic dye,” says Bina. Indigo-dyed
fabrics with shibori patterns from her workshop have takers in Japan and the US.

Slow fashion

Natural indigo is used in pockets of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh,

Gujarat and Rajasthan among weavers and block printers who follow traditional
techniques. Two years ago, on a textile trail to Kutch, I witnessed the meticulous
use of indigo vats by the Vankar family of weavers in Bhujodi.
The ‘how to’ of spinning, weaving and dyeing is passed on from one generation
to the next. Block printers in Ajrakhpur and Dhamadka, Kutch, follow a slow
process of employing natural dyes. They’ve been at it before terms like
sustainable and slow fashion came into vogue. However, many others turned to
screen printing and chemical dyes to roll out new collections in a shorter time.

Labour-intensive process
When we take the topic of indigo with Ratna of Aranya Naturals, she laughs,
“You can end up with blotches of indigo on your back, arms, wherever, if it’s a
chemical dye.” She’s been working with natural dyes for 22 years. “From
cultivating the crop to extracting colour, it’s a long process. The intensity of the
colour on the fabric depends on the number of times it is dipped in the dye.

To get a deep hue, a fabric may need to be dipped 15 to 20 times. The way indigo
works fills me with wonder even today. A lot of things are at work. When you
receive a stock of indigo cakes, it has to be tested for impurities. Imagine working
on a fabric with shibori patterns, using the dye and discovering that the colour is
mixed with mud in the final stage.

she says Mamata Reddy of Kalam Creations, who uses natural dyes for intricate
kalamkari, vouches that natural colour when duly employed, do not bleed. “The
fabric undergoes a few washes at different stages of block printing. Any excess
colour is washed away. A finished product that uses natural colours should not
bleed,” she says. Her new line includes indigo saris with kalamkari.
,