Examine sociological dynamics of Champaran Peasant Movement in colonial India. (UPSC CSE Mains 2018 - Sociology, Paper 2)
- Champaran had had a long history of agitation and discontent against the planters. Several European planters had settled in Champaran and they were engaged in the cultivation of indigo for more than a hundred years. The planters set up factories in places where indigo was grown in the Champaran district. The Bettiah Estate constituted a large part of the Champaran district. The planters used to realise land revenue from most of the villages of the Bettiah Estate on behalf of the British Raj. They once helped the British Raj to raise loan in England when it badly needed money. In return, the British Raj mortgaged most of the villages under its control to the planters. The planters acquired mokarri right for many villages—they could raise any amount of money they wanted from these villages—however, they were supposed to pay a fixed amount of revenue to the British Raj. Increased income thus went to the planters. For non-mokarri right villages, the planters had to pay fixed rent to the Raj for a term of years and keep the rest for themselves.
- In the early nineteenth century, European planters forced the cultivators of Champaran to cultivate indigo on one-fourth or three-twentieth of their holdings. This system was known as panch kathia or teen kathia system. The cultivators were forced to divert the best part of their land to cultivating indigo. Those who defied the teen kathia system were harassed and subjected to atrocities – their crops were destroyed, houses were looted, cattle was let loose on their lands, they were dragged into false cases, forced to pay fines, and the adamant ones were even beaten up. The teen kathia system thus became a norm.
- However, by the end of the nineteenth century, cultivated indigo was forced out of the market because of the easy availability and cheapness of German synthetic dyes. The planters started losing out on profits as the price of cultivated indigo declined steeply. The European planters now wanted to relieve the cultivators of Champaran from the obligation of cultivating indigo, but not before they had enhanced the rent and other illegal dues in return for the release. This move was resisted by the cultivators in 1908 in a slightly violent manner, which eventually led to police repression, arrests and jail sentences.
- In 1914 the First World War broke out in Europe and it became difficult to import foreign dye from Germany. This brightened the prospects for indigo once again. The cultivators, who had been released from indigo-cultivation, were now being forced by the planters to cultivate indigo. This further agitated the hapless cultivators.
- Things were however due for a change in 1917. A local peasant, Raj Kumar Shukla, followed Gandhi all over the country to persuade him to come to Champaran and investigate the matter. When Gandhi reached Champaran, the Commissioner ordered him to leave the district immediately. However, Gandhi refused to leave and instead preferred to take punishment for his defiance of the law. The idea of offering passive resistance or civil disobedience to an unjust order was a very novel one to Indians.
- Gandhi along with colleagues like Brij Kishore, Rajendra Prasad, Mahadev Desai, J B Kripalani and others toured several villages and recorded the statements and evidences of thousands of peasants by interrogating them thoroughly, to ensure that the information provided by them was correct. The Government, on the other hand, appointed a Commission of Inquiry to investigate into the matter. Gandhi was nominated as one of the members of the Commission. Gandhi convinced the Commission that the teen kathia system needed to be abolished. He also asked for compensation for the peasants who had had to pay illegal enhanced dues. However, he later agreed to a compromise settlement wherein the planters had to refund only twenty-five percent of the money they had illegally taken from the peasants.
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