THINK AS YOU
READ PAGE
47
1. Strike out what is not true in the
following:
(a) Rajkumar Shukla was:
(i) a sharecropper. (ii) a politician. (iii) delegate.
(iv) a landlord.
Answer:
(ii) a politician.
(b) Rajkumar Shukla was:
(i) poor. (ii) physically strong. (iii) illiterate.
Answer:
(ii) physically strong.
2. Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as
being ‘resolute’?
Answer:
He had travelled all the way from Champaran, in the Himalayan foothills, to
Lucknow to speak with Gandhi. Gandhi was always accompanied by Shukla. Shukla
went to the ashram near Ahmedabad with him. He never left Gandhi's side for
weeks until Gandhi asked him to meet in Calcutta.
3. Why do you think the servants thought
Gandhi to be another peasant?
Answer: Gandhi was led to Rajendra Prasad's home by Shukla. Shukla was known among the servants as a poor workman. Gandhi was also dressed in a dhoti. He was a peasant's companion. As a result, the servants mistook Gandhi for another peasant.
THINK AS YOU READ PAGE
49
1. List the places that Gandhi visited
between his first meeting with Shukla and his arrival at Champaran.
Answer:
Gandhi met Shukla for the first time in Lucknow. He then travelled to Cawnpore
and other Indian cities. He went back to his ashram outside of Ahmedabad.
Before arriving in Champaran, he visited Calcutta, Patna, and Muzaffarpur.
2. 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?
Answer:
Indigo was paid as rent to the British landlords by the peasants. Germany had
developed synthetic indigo at this point. As a result, the British landlords
demanded money in exchange for being released from the 15% agreement. Natural
indigo prices would fall as a result of synthetic indigo.
THINK AS YOU
READ PAGE
51
1. 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?
Answer: Gandhi's politics were intertwined with the problems that millions of Indians faced on a daily basis. He was against unjust laws. He was prepared to face court and go to jail if he broke such laws. Another example is the famous Dandi March to defy the salt law. The peaceful resistance and civil disobedience was a fight for truth and justice... This was directly linked to his Satyagraha and nonviolence ideas.
THINK AS YOU
READ PAGE
53
1. Why did Gandhi agree to a settlement of a 25 percent refund
to the farmers?
Answer:
The amount of the refund was less important to Gandhi than the fact that the
landlords had been forced to return a portion of the money, as well as a
portion of their prestige. As a result, he agreed to a 25% refund to the
farmers as a settlement.
2. How did the episode change the plight of the peasants?
Answer:
The peasants were spared the time and expense of going to court. After a period
of time, the British planters relinquished control of their estates. These were
given back to the peasants. Indigo sharecropping is no longer practiced.
UNDERSTANDING
THE TEXT PAGE
54
1. Why do you think Gandhi considered the
Champaran episode to be a turning- point in his life?
Answer:
The Champaran incident began as a means of alleviating the suffering of a large
number of poor peasants. Thousands of people came out in support of him on the
spot. Gandhi admits that what he did was nothing out of the ordinary. In his
own country, he declared, the British could not order him around. As a result,
he saw the Champaran incident as a watershed moment in his life.
2. How was Gandhi able to influence
lawyers? Give instances.
Answer:
Gandhi inquired of the lawyers as to what they would do if he were to be sentenced
to prison. They claimed they had come to give him advice. They would return
home if he went to jail. Then Gandhi inquired about the injustice perpetrated
against sharecroppers. Consultations were held by the lawyers. They came to the
conclusion that returning home would be considered desertion. As a result, they
informed Gandhi that they were willing to accompany him to jail.
3. “What was the attitude of the average
Indian in smaller localities towards advocates of ‘home rule’?
Answer:
Ordinary Indians in smaller towns were afraid to show sympathy for proponents
of self-rule. Gandhi stayed at the home of Professor Malkani, a government
school teacher, in Muzaffarpur for two days. It was unusual in those days for a
government professor to provide shelter to an opponent of the government.
4. How do we know that ordinary people
too contributed to the freedom movement?
Answer:
At 12 a.m., Professor J.B. Kriplani met Gandhi at the Muzaffarpur railway
station. He was accompanied by a large group of students. Sharecroppers from
Champaran came to see Gandhi on foot and by carriage. Lawyers from Muzaffarpur
also came to see him. When Gandhi arrived at Motihari railway station, he was
greeted by a large crowd. Thousands of people gathered outside the courtroom to
demonstrate. This demonstrates that ordinary people in India contributed to the
freedom movement.
TALKING ABOUT
THE TEXT PAGE 55
Discuss the following:
1. “Freedom from fear is more important
than Legal justice for the poor.”
Do you think that the poor of India are
free from fear after Independence?
Answer:
Freedom and legal justice are far less important to India's poor. After
Independence, I don't believe India's poor are free of fear. Corrupt
politicians and a self-serving bureaucracy have taken the place of foreign
rulers. Moneylenders and power brokers are thriving. Although the situation for
the poor in cities and towns has improved, the poor in remote villages continue
to be afraid of big farmers and moneylenders. They are still terrified of the
police and revenue officials.
To make ends meet, the poor, landless workers must
continue to work hard. Peasants and tenant-farmers are forced to borrow money
from wealthy moneylenders at exorbitant interest rates, which they frequently
fail to repay due to a lack of financial resources.
2. The qualities of a good leader.
Answer:
A good leader can appeal to a large number of people. He rises above the crowd,
thinks and works for them. In his approach, he is sincere. He is a man of
convictions. A good leader embodies truth, honesty, patriotism, morality, a
spirit of service, and sacrifice. He never combines religion or sect with
politics. He believes in working for the good of the country rather than
thinking in terms of class, caste, or region. The two evils that surround a
powerful leader are corruption and nepotism. A good leader's life is an open
book. There is no distinction between what he says and what he does. Good
leaders are hard to come by. Today's politicians are pragmatic, focused on
achieving their goals without regard for the consequences. the objectivity of
means Morality loses out to the law of expediency.
WORKING WITH
WORDS PAGE
55
• List the words used in the text that
are related to legal procedures.
For example: deposition
Answer:
Notice, summons, prosecutor, trial, plead, guilty, order, penalty, sentence,
bail, judgement, prison, case, inquiry, evidence, commission.
• List other words that you know that
fall into this category.
Answer: Complaint, complainant, decree, defendant, witness, prosecution, defence, sessions, jury, verdict, decision.
THINKING
ABOUT LANGUAGE PAGE
55
1. Notice the sentences in the text which
are in ‘direct speech’. Why does the author use quotations in his narration?
Answer:
The following sentences in the text are in ‘direct speech’.
(а) He
said, “I will tell you how it happened that I decided to urge the departure of
the British. It was in 1917.”
(b) Gandhi
recounted. “A peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant in India,
poor and emaciated, and said, ‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. I am from Champaran, and I
want you to come to my district!”
(c) Gandhi
said, “I have to be in Calcutta on such-and-such a date. Come and meet me and
take me from there”.
(d) “It
was an extraordinary thing ‘in those days,” Gandhi commented, Tor a government
professor to harbour a man like me.’
(e) He
said, “I have come to the conclusion that we should stop going to law courts.
Taking such cases to the courts does little good. Where the peasants are so
crushed and fear-stricken, law courts are useless. The real relief for them is
to be free from fear.”
(f) “The
commissioner,” Gandhi reports, “proceeded to bully me and advised me forthwith
to leave Tirhut”.
(g) ‘But
how much must we pay?’ they asked Gandhi.
(h) One
woman took Kasturbabai into her hut and said, “Look, there is no box or
cupboard here for clothes. The sari I am wearing is the only one I have”.
(i) “What
I did”, he explained, “was a very ordinary thing. I declared that the British
could not order me about in my own country”.
(j) He
said, “You think that in this unequal fight it would be helpful if we have an
Englishman on our side. This shows the weakness of your heart. The cause is
just and you must rely upon yourselves to win the battle. You should not seek a
prop in Mr ‘ Andrews because he happens to be an Englishman”.
(k) “He
had read our minds correctly,” Rajendra Prasad comments, “and we had no reply …
Gandhi in this way taught uS a lesson in self-reliance”.
The choice of the direct form strengthens the
effectiveness of narration. The author uses quotations to highlight certain
points which may not appear so effective in reporting indirectly.
2. Notice the use or non-use of the comma
in the following sentences.
(a) When I first visited Gandhi in 1942
at his ashram in Sevagram, he told me what happened in Champaran.
(b) He had not proceeded far when the
police superintendent’s messenger overtook him.
(c) When the court reconvened, the judge
said he would not deliver the judgement for several days.
Answer:
(a) When the subordinate clause comes before the main clause, a comma is used
to separate it from the main clause.
(b) No comma is used when the main clause comes
before the subordinate clause.
10. An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Question Answer | |
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