Students who would like to know the NCERT Solutions For Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 5 Indigo can get here on this page. We have provided you a complete understanding of the chapter and its important meanings. All the students should have detailed knowledge of NCERT chapter 5 Indigo. The students should concentrate on the important chapters to score more marks in their exams. Chapter 5 Indigo is the important chapter for Class 12 NCERT English Flamingo Chapter 5.
NCERT Solved Questions Class 12 Chapter 5- Indigo
Notice these expressions in the text. Infer their meaning from the context. Infer their meaning from the context.
- Urge The Departure: insist on the going away of the British from India
- Conflict Of Duties: Clash of obligation or responsibility
- Harbour a man like me: give shelter to an advocate of home rule
- Seek a prop: try to find support or assistance
Think As You Read (Page47)
Q1. Strikeout what is not true in the following.
A. Rajkumar Shukla was:
- a sharecropper
- a politician
- delegate
- a landlord
Answer:
- a sharecropper
a politician- delegate
- a landlord
B. Rajkumar Shukla was
- Poor
- Physical strong
- Illiterate
Answer:
- Poor
Physical Strong- Illiterate
Q2. Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as being resolute’?
Answer: 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.
Q3. Why do you think the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant?
Answer: 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 indigo sharecropper.
Think As You Read (page 49)
Q1. List the places that Gandhi visited between his first meeting with Shukla and his arrival at Champaran.
Answer: Gandhi visited Cawnpore, his ashram near Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Patna, and Muzaffarpur before arriving at Champaran.
Q2. 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: 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.
Think As You Read (Page 51)
Q1. 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 Ji always fought for the injustice and distress of the poor people. Boycott of foreign schools, colleges, and foreign clothes, and the Dandi march for ‘Satyagraha’ were some of the instances linked to his ideas of Satyagraha and non-violence.
Think As You Read (Page 53)
Q1. Why did Gandhi agree to a settlement of a 25 percent refund to the farmers?
Answer: Gandhi agreed to a settlement of a 25 percent refund to the farmers because, in his 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.
Q2. How did the episode change the plight of the peasants?
Answer: 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 foot.
Understanding The Text
Q1. Why do you think Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning point in his life?
Answer: 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.
Answer: Gandhi asked the Lawyers what they would do if he had been arrested, and they answered that they would go home. Gandhi reminded them about the injustice to sharecroppers. After discussion, they realized their services and agreed to follow Gandhi into jail.
Q3. What was the attitude of the average Indian in smaller localities towards advocates of ‘home rule’?
Answer: 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?
Answer: 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.
Talking About The Text
Discuss the following
Q1. “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: I don’t think that the poor of India are free from fear after Independence. Freedom from fear is the first step towards independence. Even after the Independence for decades the country is not free from fear. The share coppers of the Champaran shed their free from the British landlords. The police and The poor farmers become poorer due to globalization and the craze for foreign products. The poor people who live in continuous fear of the police often end up maltreating them. As the poor farmers have to borrow the money from the money lenders with a high rate of interest. Most of the farmers fail to pay the money to the moneylenders due to the bad crops. In some cases, the small farmers committing suicide is quite common now. If this is not due to fear then what is the reason behind it?
Q2. The qualities of a good leader.
Answer: A good leader is someone who rules the other minds and convinces them of the following ideas and benefits. A good leader should follow the principles. Integrity, Self-awareness, Communication, Learning agility, Gratitude, Influence, and Empathy are some of the qualities of a good leader. A good leader does not think about caste or religion. A good leader thinks with a broad mind and he believes in working for the welfare of the Nation. His life is an open book and should not have a difference between his words and actions. A good leader encourages others to achieve their goals and bring out the best in them. He appreciates others for their efforts and is not impartial. If a good leader works hard and achieves goals in their life this inspires others to follow him. Nowadays, good leaders are very rare to find, we just have the leaders who think of achieving without bothering about the purity. He doesn’t fear the situation and will never quit it.
Working With Words
Q1. List the words used in the text that are related to legal procedures.
For example deposition
Answer: Penalty, Judgement, Notice, Summons, Sentence, Prosecutor, trial, guilty, order, bail, prison, case, inquiry, commission, evidence, plead, penalty, compensation.
Q2. List other words that you know that fall into this category.
Answer: Hearing, Warrant, complaint, decree, conviction, defendant, witness, prosecution, defense, sessions, jury, verdict, decision.
Thinking About Language
Q1. Notice the sentences in the text which are in ‘direct speech’. Why does the author use quotations in his narration?
Answer: The following are the sentences in the text which are used in the Direct speech.
- He said, “I will tell you how it happened that I decided to urge the departure of the British. It was in 1917.”
- 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!”
- Gandhi said, “I have to be in Calcutta on such-and-such a date. Come and meet me and take me from there”.
- “It was an extraordinary thing ‘in those days,” Gandhi commented, Tor a government professor to harbor a man like me.’
- 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.”
- “The commissioner,” Gandhi reports, “proceeded to bully me and advised me forthwith to leave Tirhut”.
- ‘But how much must we pay?’ they asked Gandhi.
- 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”.
- “What I did”, he explained, “was a very ordinary thing. I declared that the British could not order me about in my own country”.
- 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”.
- “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”.
Q2. 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 judgment 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. Essential clauses do not require commas. Here in this sentence when the police superintendent’s messenger overtook him is the essential clause. Hence it does not require a comma.
(c) In this sentence again we have an introductory clause that provides extra information. The second
half of the sentence can stand alone and, therefore, is separated from the introductory clause with a comma.
Things To Do
1. Choose an issue that has provoked a controversy like the Bhopal Gas Tragedy or the Narmada Dam Project in which the lives of the poor have been affected.
2. Find out the facts of the case.
3. Present your arguments.
4. Suggest a possible settlement.
Answer: It should be done under teachers’ guidance.
For example, the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan is one of the largest nuclear disasters in recent years.