SNo Content Page No.

1 INDEX 2

2 PREFACE 3

3 CERTIFICATE 4
4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 5

5 OBJECTIVES 6
6 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 7
7 WHAT IS INDIGO SHARECROPPING? 8

8 NATURAL INDIGO HARVESTING & ITS USES 11

9 THEME OF INDIGO 14

10 ROLE OF RAJKUAMR SHUKLA 16

11 SUMMARY OF INDIGO 18
12 EFFORTS BY GANDHI 21
13 GANDHI AS AN EFFECTIVE LEADER 23
14 BIBLIOGRAPHY 25
TOPIC: INDIGO:- THE EMANCIPATION OF
SHARECROPPERS BY MAHATMA GANDHI

SUBMITTED BY: HEMANT SINGH RATHORE

CLASS: XII SCIENCE B

SUBJECT: ENGLISH

SUBMITTED TO: Dr. KOMALPREET KAUR

CHHABRA (PGT ENGLISH)

This is to certify that the project work on INDIGO:-
THE EMANCIPATION OF SHARECRRPPERS BY
MAHATMA GANDHI based on the curriculum of CBSE
has been completed by HEMANT SINGH RATHORE of
Class-XII Section B of ARMY PUBLIC SCHOOL,
JAIPUR under the guidance of DR KOMALPREET
KAUR CHHABRA.

The above mentioned project work has been completed

under my guidance during the academic year 2022-23.

Signature of Teacher
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 DR KOMALPREET KAUR CHHABRA 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:
Place:
By the end of this project we will understand that-
 Forgiveness and peaceful means can be more
effective than revenge and violence.
 How rules and laws have different effect on
different people.
 How to take part in making and changing rules?
 To have patience and determination while
managing crisis.
 To be self-reliant instead of looking for shoulders to
lean upon.
 Lessons to learn-courage to fight your own battles
independently and fearlessly rather than lending
support in critical situations.
Louis Fischer was an American journalist. He
was born on 29 January
1896 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, U.S. He
died on 15 January 1970
(aged73) in Princeton,
New Jersey.
His works were a
contribution to the ex-communist treatise ‘The
God that Failed’. After
studying at the
Philadelphia school of
Pedagogy, he became a
teacher.
Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to
agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant
to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced
on that land.
Sharecropping has a long
history and there are a wide
range of different situations
and types of agreements that
have used a form of the
system. Some are governed by
tradition, and others by law.
Sharecropping has benefits
and costs for both the owners and the tenant. Under a
sharecropping system, the landowner provided a share of
land to be worked by the
sharecropper, and usually
provided other necessities
such as housing, tools, seed,
or working animals.In
exchange for the land and
supplies, the cropper would
pay the owner a share of the
crop at the end of the season, typically one-half to two
thirds. The cropper used his share to pay off his debt to
the merchant.
In this system, the landowner encourages the cropper to
remain on the land,
solving the harvest rush
problem. Since the
cropper pays in shares or
portions of his harvest,
owners and croppers both
share the risks and
benefits of harvests being
large or small and of prices being high or low. Because
both parties benefit from larger harvests, tenants have
an incentive to work harder and invest in better methods
than, for example, in a slave plantation system.
However, by dividing the working force into many
individual workers,
large farms do not
benefit from economies
of scale. Though the
arrangement protected
sharecroppers from the
negative effects of a bad
crop, many
sharecroppers (both white and black) remained quite
poor. 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.
The best choice you can make when it comes to
sustainable fashion is to select materials that come from
the earth and can be returned to the earth, like natural
fibres or organic dyes that
are created through
processes Indigo
Harvesting Indigo plants
have lovely flowers, but it is
the leaves and branches
that are used for dye.
Although there are many varieties of indigo, it is true
indigo (Indigifera tinctoria) that has traditionally been
used for dye.
The ideal time of year for picking indigo for dye is just
before the blossoms open. When
picking indigo, remember that
these are perennial plants and
need to continue to perform
photosynthesis to survive. To
that end, never take more than
half of the leaves in any one year.
Leave the rest on the indigo plant
to allow it to produce energy for
the following season When you are harvesting indigo,
you need to collect the leaves first. Many people simply
bundle leaves and small branches for processing.
After you’ve gathered your indigo harvest, you’ll need to
treat the foliage to create the blue dye. Preferred
techniques vary. 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. Others suggest a composting
method. A third way to extract the dye is by water
extraction.
1. The primary use for indigo is as a dye for cotton
yarn.
2. Smaller quantities are used in dyeing of wool and
silk.
3. Indigo carmine, is an indigo derivative which is
also used as a colorant.
4. It is also used as a food colorant.
5. Indigo and some of its derivative are known as
ambipolar organic semiconductor when deposited
as thin films by vacuum evaporation.
6. This is the dye traditionally used to natural hair
colours.
7. Indigo is also use for treatment for a range of ills
including scorpion bites and stomach cancer.
1. Leadership: In the chapter 'Indigo' the main theme
covered by the author is that how an effective leadership
can overcome any problem without any harm . Here the
leadership is shown by Mahatma Gandhi to secure
justice for oppressed people through convincing
argumentation and negotiation . This chapter deals with
the way Mahatma Gandhi solved the problem of poor
sharecroppers of Champaran in a non-violent way.
2. Satyagraha: Satyagraha was a novel method of mass
agitation, which stressed the principle of truth,
tolerance, non-violence and peaceful protests.
Satyagraha supported
that for true cause and
struggle against injustice,
physical force is not
required to fight with the
oppressor. The
Champaran Satyagraha
was the combination of
elements of extra-constitutional struggle as well as the
employment of moral force against an adversary, an
exemplar of the rule of law; and the use of compromise
as a gambit. It is marked as India’s first Civil
Disobedience Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi
to protest against the injustice meted out to tenant
farmers in Champaran district of Bihar.
3.First victory of civil disobedience movement :
Champaran district was the part of permanent
settlement area which consisted of the large zamindari
estates under rich and influential landlords. Most of the
villages were leased out by the zamindars to the kedars
of whom the most influential were European Indigo
Planters. Though the planters were temporary tenure
holders, they not only
extracted rent from the
peasants but also
exercised civil and
criminal jurisdiction. So
Mahatma Gandhi
decided to launch first
civil disobedience
movement and got victory in it. As he got justice for
European Indigo planters.
 RajKumar Shukla was one
of the sharecroppers from
Champaran. He requested
Gandhiji to visit
Champaran in order to look
into the plight of peasants
which they were facing
regarding indigo cropping.

He was one of illiterate,

poor and oppressed sharecropper from Champaran. He
was a man of firm resolve who was courageous enough to
impress Gandhi to the extent that he fought for their
cause and won them justice and self-reliance.

RajKumar Shukla was the farmer behind the indigo

movement, one that symbolizes the Indian freedom
struggle and the role of Gandhiji. The Britishers imposed
‘indigo sharecropping’ upon the farmers of Champaran.
RajKumar himself was suffering at the hands of this
exploitative system.
He emerged as a forefront leader of the struggle against
discrimination done by the colonial power in Champaran
region. RajKumar was the person who convinced
Gandhiji to visit Champaran. He briefed Gandhiji about
the issues being faced by the farmers of the district. It
was due to his efforts that the farmers of the district were
freed from forced indigo cultivation.

RajKumar Shukla was a resolute because even after

being told about the prior engagement of Gandhi at
Cawnpore and other parts across the country, he does
not quit.
Louis Fischer starts the chapter by recalling his meeting
with Mahatma Gandhi at his ashram in Sevagram in
1942. He remembers Gandhi explaining his urge to
initiate the departure of the British from India. It started
in 1917. He had gone to attend the annual convention of
the Indian National Congress Party in Lucknow in
December 1916. During this
event, a farmer named
Rajkumar Shukla came up to
him, asking for help. He wanted
Gandhi to help him, and his
fellow farmers deal with the
injustice imposed upon them by
the landlord system in Bihar.
Rajkumar Shukla followed
Gandhi to his ashram until the latter agreed to go to
Champaran. It was decided that Rajkumar Shukla
would take Gandhi to Champaran from Calcutta. After
several months, when Gandhi went to Calcutta, he found
Rajkumar waiting for him at the exact spot at the given
time. Rajkumar took Gandhi to the house of Rajendra
Prasad – a lawyer. The lawyer was not there. So, Gandhi
decided to go to Muzaffarpur. He was greeted by a
professor at the train station – J.B. Kripalani, whom
many students accompanied. Although the local people
were afraid of giving shelter to home-rule supporters like
Gandhi, a government school teacher – Professor
Malkani let him stay for two days at his house.
As a number of lawyers and
farmers came to meet him,
Gandhi understood the problem
faced by the farmers. They were
sharecroppers – tenants that
worked on estates owned by
British landlords. This system
compelled the farmers to
cultivate fifteen per cent of their
land with indigo and hand over
the complete harvest to the
landlords. When the landlords
discovered that Germany had
developed synthetic indigo, they did not want the
farmers to grow indigo anymore. So, they asked the
farmers to pay some compensatory fees for being
released from the fifteen per cent arrangement. Some
farmers signed willingly, while others hired lawyers to
fight against this. But when they came to know about the
development of synthetic indigo, they wanted their
money back.
Gandhi faced a lot of troubles while approaching the
government officials about the Champaran issue. They
made many excuses and turned him away a number of
times. But he stayed put and filed a case with support
from prominent lawyers and the local farmers. After long
meetings with the Lieutenant-Governor, Gandhi was
able to arrange investigations into the sharecroppers’
issues. A substantial amount of evidence was unearthed,
and the official enquiry agreed to refund the farmers’
money that was taken from them through illegal and
deceitful ways.
Gandhi asked for fifty per cent of the money while the
official enquiry counter-proposed a twenty-five per cent
refund. Gandhi agreed
gladly. To him, the amount
of money that was to be
paid was less important
than the fact that British
landlords were compelled
to surrender their money.
Gandhi believed that the
landlords were surrendering their prestige as well.
The outcome of this event was that the fearful and
suppressed farmers developed a sense of self-reliance
and courage to fight for their rights. The writer stresses
the fact that Gandhi’s politics was not about being loyal
to ideals, but it was about being loyal to the people – the
human beings involved in it. He took up various
initiatives to improve the lives of people in Champaran.
He started schools along with health and sanitation
campaigns to help the people of Champaran overcome
poverty and misery. His wife, disciples and many other
people volunteered to help Gandhi bring development to
Champaran.
 1. Gandhi began by trying
to get some facts, but the
British landlords as well
as the commissioner of
Tirhut were no-
cooperative. Lawyers from
Muzzafarpur briefed him
about the court cases of
the peasants.

2. Gandhi and the lawyers collected depositions

from about ten thousand peasants. Notes
were made on other evidence, documents
were collected.
3. The whole are throbbed with the activities of
protest by landlords. As a result, the
lieutenant governor summoned Gandhi.

4. After four protracted interviews an official

commission of inquiry was appointed to look
into the indigo sharecroppers’ condition.
Gandhi was the sole representative of the
peasants.

5. The official inquiry agreed to give a refund to

the peasants. They agreed on 25% refund to
the farmers. This was moral victory of
peasants. They recognised their rights and
learned courage.
This lesson describes Gandhi and his leadership
qualities-
1. Gandhi was a man of few words and he used
them with tact. For example, he convinced
the lawyers to stay back and go to prison in
Motihari.
2. Gandhi
was a
negotiator.
His skills
in
convincing
other
people were useful. For example, the victory
after the four protracted interviews was a
result of his negotiation.
3. Gandhi was persistence and had the ability
to convince people. For example, his victory
 in the four protracted interviews was a result
of his persistence.
4. Gandhi was a man of courage. He was
fearless. For example, Gandhi was the sole
representative of the peasants in the four
protracted interviews.
5. Gandhi qualities as a leader were also
reflected when he agreed to the 25% refund.
As for a leader the
quantity does not
matter.
6. He was a leader
who wanted to
teach farmers
their right, give
them courage and to teach lesson of self-
reliance. For example, Gandhi vehemently
opposed the idea of allowing Mr. Andres to
join the movement, as he was an Englishman
and it would show the weakness of their
heart.
Gandhi, therefore was a leader who led through
example, he was tactful, mature, he was a teacher
who taught his followers important lessons
 NCERT textbook Flamingo class XII
 www.wikipedia.com
 Class Notes
 Question & Answer
 Lectures