In this article, I give you all the information about the Champaran Satyagraha of 1917. we also discuss its background and activities.
Champaran satyagraha is an important topic of modern history.
In 1750 the British East India Company was just a trading company. This company started the cultivation of indigo for the first time. This cultivation was started in Berar, Awadh, and Bengal.
The eastern part of today's Maharashtra was called Berar of that time. Today's Uttar Pradesh was called Awadh. Indigo was used as a natural dye to dye clothes.
The British East India Company used to get Indian farmers to cultivate indigo and sell them at high prices in the markets of China, the UK, and Europe.
But Indian farmers were not in favor of growing indigo. The cultivation of indigo required more water than other crops and also reduced the fertility of the land.
So that's why there was an agreement between British Planters and Indian Farmers which was called Teenkathiya System.
There was an agreement that each farmer would have to grow 3 katha indigo in each bigha. Katha is a unit of measurement at that time and 1 Bigha equals to 20 Katha.
Every farmer was required to grow indigo on 3 by 20 part. That means other crops could be grown on the remaining 17 parts for which the British planters paid a considerable amount.
In 1915, Germany created an artificial dye. This dye was much cheaper than the natural dye.
This happened that the price of India's natural dye kept falling. The British planter started paying less money to the farmers of India to grow indigo.
That's why Indian farmers stopped growing indigo and started doing other farming.
The British planter had political support as the government belonged to them, so they started harassing the Indian farmers.
Gandhiji had returned to India from South Africa only in 1915. He had made his ashram in Sabarmati.
In 1917, some local leaders approached Gandhiji in Champaran with the problems of the farmers.
Gandhiji formed a team to deal with this problem in which there were big lawyers of that time and he reached Champaran.
Gandhiji first surveyed the surrounding villages by reaching Champaran, and after preparing a report, took the signatures and thumb impressions of the farmers.
When the police came to know about this, they put Gandhiji in jail. Gandhiji was presented in the court on 18 April 1917. When the magistrate asked Gandhiji to say something in his defense.
The magistrate was shaken after hearing what Gandhiji said at that time. When this matter reached the top, then the Lieutenant General of Bihar asked Gandhiji to leave.
The collector allowed Gandhiji to start his survey. Gandhiji submitted all his files to court.
The government was very happy with this approach of Gandhiji and was thinking about why Gandhiji's request should be considered.
To solve this problem, a commission was formed which was named Indigo Commission and in which Gandhiji was also a member.
On the basis of the Indigo Commission's report, the Champaran Agrarian Act was passed in the Bihar and Odisha Legislative Assemblies on 4 March 1918.
In this act, the Teenkathia system was completely abolished.
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