Champaran Satyagraha (1917):

• The First Civil Disobedience Movement in India

Background: Gandhi's Introduction to the Problems of the Farmers in Champaran

• Rajkumar Shukla, a local man, requested Gandhi to look into the problems of the farmers in Champaran, Bihar.

• European planters were forcing peasants to grow indigo on 3/20 part of the total land (tinkathia system).

• When German synthetic dyes replaced indigo, the planters demanded high rents and illegal dues from the peasants.

• Peasants were also forced to sell their produce at prices fixed by the Europeans.

Gandhi's Entry into Champaran and Defiance of Authority

• Gandhi, along with Rajendra Prasad, Mazharul-Haq, Mahadev Desai, Narhari Parekh, and J.B. Kripalani, reached Champaran to investigate the matter.

• The authorities ordered him to leave the area immediately, but Gandhi defied the order and chose to face the punishment.

• This passive resistance or civil disobedience of an unjust order was a new method at that time.

Resolution of the Conflict

• The authorities permitted Gandhi to make an inquiry after their initial retreat.

• The government appointed a committee to investigate the matter and nominated Gandhi as a member.

• Gandhi was able to convince the authorities to abolish the tinkathia system and compensate peasants for the illegal dues extracted from them.

• As a compromise with the planters, Gandhi agreed that only 25% of the money taken should be compensated.

• Within a decade, the planters left the area, and Gandhi had won the first battle of civil disobedience in India.

Other Leaders Associated with Champaran Satyagraha

• Brajkishore Prasad, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Ramnavmi Prasad, and Shambhusharan Varma were popular leaders associated with Champaran Satyagraha.

Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918) - First Hunger Strike:

Background:

• Dispute between cotton mill owners and workers in Ahmedabad over the discontinuation of plague bonus in March 1918.

• Mill owners wanted to withdraw the bonus while the workers demanded a 50% wage hike due to wartime inflation caused by Britain's involvement in World War I.

• Mill owners were willing to give only a 20% wage hike, which led to the workers going on strike.

Intervention by Anusuya Sarabhai:

• Workers sought help from Anusuya Sarabhai, a social worker and sister of Ambalal Sarabhai, one of the mill owners and the president of the Ahmedabad Mill Owners Association.

• Anusuya approached Gandhi to intervene and help resolve the impasse between the workers and the employers.

Gandhi's involvement:

• Despite being a friend of Ambalal, Gandhi took up the workers' cause and advised them to demand a 35% increase in wages instead of 50%.

• Gandhi advised the workers to remain non-violent while on strike and himself undertook a fast unto death to strengthen their resolve.

• The fast put pressure on the mill owners, who agreed to submit the issue to a tribunal.

• The strike was eventually withdrawn, and the tribunal awarded the workers a 35% wage hike.

• Anusuya Behn went on to form the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association in 1920.

Significance:

• The Ahmedabad Mill Strike was the first time Gandhi used a hunger strike as a non-violent means of protest.

• The strike and Gandhi's involvement raised awareness of the workers' issues and paved the way for the formation of labour unions in India.

• Gandhi's success in resolving the issue through non-violent means inspired future movements and protests for workers' rights in India.

Kheda Satyagraha (1918)

Background

• In 1918, Kheda district of Gujarat faced a severe drought which led to crop failure.

• Revenue Code stated that farmers were entitled to remission if the yield was less than one-fourth the normal produce.

• The Gujarat Sabha submitted petitions requesting suspension of revenue assessment for 1919, but the government refused

Non-Cooperation

• Gandhi asked farmers not to pay taxes.

• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Narahari Parikh, Mohanlal Pandya, and Ravi Shankar Vyas organized and provided political leadership to the farmers.

• Patel and his colleagues maintained discipline and unity among the different ethnic and caste communities in Kheda.

• Even when the government seized farmers' personal property, land, and livelihood, the majority of Kheda's farmers did not desert Patel.

• Gujaratis in other parts of the country who sympathized with the cause helped by sheltering the relatives and property of the protesting peasants.

• Those who sought to buy the confiscated lands were socially ostracized

Agreement

• The government agreed to suspend the tax for the year in question and the next, reduce the increase in rate, and return all confiscated property.

• The struggle at Kheda brought a new awakening among the peasantry, making them aware of the need to fight injustice and exploitation.