A century ago, Mahatma Gandhi tested the idea of satyagraha for the first time to fight for indigo farmers in Champaran. While the crop is seeing a revival in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, Champaran in Bihar is in the throes of another peasant struggle.
100 YEARS OF STATUS QUO
It is a tragedy that the agrarian situation in the country doesn’t seem to have changed much even after a century. The plight of indigo farmers in Champaran a hundred years ago is the plight of farmers all over the country in modern-day India.
The Champaran movement, or Neel Satyagraha as it was popularly called, was a symbol of the fight for ethics and rights. There was a clear exploitation of the poorest of the poor and the motive was unbridled profiteering. It became a very emotive issue because on one side were rich landlords backed by the most powerful empire of the time, while on the other side was a completely disenfranchised and enslaved community—that of the subsistence farmer. It was assumed that they did not have any voice or pose any threat.
Terms like common market and world community that are used today were, in certain ways, also present at that time. Then, as it is now, the philosophy was to extract raw materials at the cheapest rate and to find markets to sell them at most remunerating prices. The trade was loaded in favour of the manufacturer, while the seller of the raw material as well as the purchaser of the finished product were the sufferers.
This story is from the April 01, 2017 edition of Down To Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 01, 2017 edition of Down To Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
THE ALCHEMY OF EMOTIONS - SL'OTH
As with all personality traits, laziness is a combination of genes and environment
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - WRATH
Anger is an emotional programme, a part of natural selection that helps us bargain for better treatment
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - GLUTTONY
We have been captured by food and it is driving us to do something that is arguably not good for us
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - ENVY
Envy gives people a fundamental desire for a higher social rank
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS-L'UST
Love, lust, attachments are basic brain circuits. They are too primitive a system and will never change
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - GREED
Evolutionary biology sees greed as a way to increase your chances of survival
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS
I felt for the tormented whirlwinds Damned for their carnal sins Committed when they let their passions rule their reason
INVISIBLE THREAT
Significant presence of microplastics in Puducherry’s agricultural soil raises concerns for soil and crop health
Feeding off each other
VEGETARIAN MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH ASIA AND THE WEST GREW WITH MUTUAL SUPPORT AND VALIDATION
India's unhealthy patent amendments
Despite strong pleas, the Modi regime has changed the rules to impose a cost on those who challenge faulty patents