Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 5
Question Answer
Indigo Question Answer

Here we are providing the question and answers for the 5th chapter of Class 12 English, “Indigo”. This chapter studies the main features related to “The Rattrap“.

These notes will prove useful for students preparing for the board examinations this year. Prepared in simple and organized language, this material will help in quickly revising the chapter and remembering the key points.

Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 5 Question Answer, Indigo Question Answer

Class 12 english Chapter 5 Question answer

Think as you read

Q1. Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as being 'resolute'?

Ans. Rajkumar Shukla is described as being ‘resolute’ because he had come from distant Champaran district to Lucknow to meet Gandhi Ji and to complain about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar. He accompanied Gandhi Ji everywhere as long as Gandhi Ji did not agree to come to Champaran.

Q2. Why do you think the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant?

Ans. I think the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant because he, wearing a simple dhoti, accompanied by Raj Kumar Shukla, whom the servants knew as a poor small landlord.

Q3. List the places that Gandhi visited between his first meeting with Shukla and his arrival at Champaran.

Ans. Gandhi visited Cawnpore, his ashram near Ahmedabad, Patna, Muzaffarpur and Calcutta before arriving at Champaran.

Q4. What did the peasants pay the British landlords as rent? What did the British now want instead and why? What would be the impact of synthetic indigo on the prices of natural indigo?

Ans. The peasants paid the entire indigo production as rent to the British landlords. The British now wanted compensation from the sharecroppers for being released from the agreement of producing indigo on 15 percent of their land. The price of natural indigo would go down due to synthetic indigo.

Q5. The events in this part of the text illustrate Gandhi's method of working. Can you identify some instances of this method and link them to his ideas of satyagraha and non-violence?

Ans. Gandhi Ji always fought for the injustice and distress of the poor people. Boycott of foreign schools, colleges and foreign clothes, and Dandi march for ‘Namak satyagraha’ were some of the instances linked to his ideas of satyagraha and non-violence.

Q6. Why did Gandhi agree to a settlement of 25 per cent refund to the farmers?

Ans. Gandhi agreed to a settlement of 25 per cent refund to the farmers because, in this way, the planters had to surrender their pride who had assumed themselves as lords above the law. The peasants also learned to defend their rights and gained courage after this incident.

Q7. How did the episode change the plight of the peasants?

Ans. After this episode, the British planters abandoned their estates that reverted to the sharecroppers. Indigo sharecropping, which was troublesome, disappeared. The peasants learned the courage to fight for their rights and to defend them. They learned to stand on their own feet.

Understanding the text

Q1. Why do you think Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning-point in his life?

Ans. Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning point in his life because civil disobedience triumphed for the first time in modern India. His methods of civil disobedience and non-violence alleviated the problems of exploited Indians. They learned to stay firm against the British exploitative policies. Gandhi said that the British could not order him about in his own country.

Q2. How was Gandhi able to influence lawyers? Give instances.

Ans. Gandhi asked the lawyers what they would do if he had been arrested, they answered that they would go home. Gandhi reminded them about the injustice to sharecroppers. After discussion, they realised their service and agreed to follow Gandhi into jail.

Q3. What was the attitude of the average Indian in smaller localities towards advocates of 'home rule'?

Ans. In smaller localities, the Indians were afraid to show sympathy for advocates of home rule. They feared that the British would torture them for supporting that idea.

Q4. How do we know that ordinary people too contributed to the freedom movement?

Ans. The contribution of ordinary people to India’s freedom cannot be forgotten. When Gandhi was in trouble with authorities in Motihari, a large number of people gathered there to support him. Thousands also demonstrated around the courthouse.

Long Type Question answer

1. Why do you think Gandhiji considered the Champaran episode to be turning - point in his life?

Ans. The Champaran episode was a turning point in Gandhiji’s life. Gandhiji himself accepts it. It was the first mass movement in India. Gandhiji took up the cause of the poor peasants. He fought against the injustice of the cruel landlords. They extorted money from the poor sharecroppers. But Champaran didn’t begin as an act of defiance. The movement grew out of Gandhiji’s attempt to remove the distress of poor peasants.

The success of Champaran marked the first victory of the civil Disobedience in modern India.

Above all the Champaran episode was the beginning of their liberation from fear of the British.

2. How did Gandhiji help the poor in Champaran to achieve freedom from fear? What made indigo sharecropping disappear?

OR

Which factor helped the fear stricken peasants of Champaran to achieve Freedom?

Ans. Gandhiji came to Champaran to fight against the injustice of the landlord system there. Most of the land in Champaran was divided into large estates owned by Englishmen. They were worked by Indian tenants to grow indigo. The landlords compelled all tenants to planed to 15 percent of their holding with indigo. They surrendered the entire harvest as rent. At this doing Gandhiji arrived in Champaran.

A huge crowd welcomed Gandhiji at Champaran. The commissioner advise him to leave the place. Gandhiji didn’t oblige him. He decided to disobey the order. He received a summon to appear in the court the next day.

Thousands of peasants demonstrated around the court house. It was the beginning of their liberation from fear of the British. The case against Gandhi ji was dropped. Civil disobedience had triumphed for the first time in India.

3. What did Gandhiji do to uplift culturally and socially the people of Champaran villages?

Ans. Gandhiji has achieved his goal of providing justice to the sharecroppers of Champaran.

The people of Champarana were culturally and socially backward. Gandhiji saw that eradication of illiteracy could be the first step towards their social and cultural upliftment. He decided to open primary schools. His two disciples and their wives volunteered. His son and his wife, Kasturbai too, joined him in his work. A doctor volunteered his services. Three medicines were made available. Cure for three common disease constipation, malaria and skin eruptions, was given.

Personal and community hygiene was emphasized. Thus Gandhiji made a beginning of a bigger change in social and cultural situation.

Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 5
Question Answer
Indigo Question Answer