During the Champaran Satyagraha, the cultivation of indigo was known as ________.

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, Tinkathia system. Under this arrangement, European planters in Champaran (Bihar) forced tenant farmers to grow indigo on 3 out of every 20 kathas (units) of their land — 'tin' (three) + 'kathia' (katha, a land unit) — in exchange for being allowed rent-free cultivation of the rest, while being barred from growing food crops on the indigo portion and forced to sell the crop at planter-fixed prices. It was this exploitative system that Gandhi investigated and helped dismantle in the 1917 Champaran Satyagraha, his first major campaign in India.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) A British land-revenue settlement (direct tax collection from cultivators, mainly in Madras and Bombay presidencies) — unrelated to Champaran's forced indigo cultivation.  (c) A shifting/jhum cultivation method used in some tribal and hill regions — not the term for Champaran's indigo-cultivation arrangement.  (d) Not the standard term for this system; the established name in the historical record is the Tinkathia system.

Concept: The Tinkathia system compelled Champaran's tenant peasants to grow indigo on 3/20th of their landholding for European planters, on planter-dictated terms, without the option to grow food crops on that portion. When synthetic dyes made indigo unprofitable for planters after 1900, many tried to extract cash compensation from peasants for release from the system instead — deepening the grievance that led Raj Kumar Shukla to persuade Gandhi to visit Champaran in 1917, launching Gandhi's first satyagraha in India.

State PCS 2022 Q64 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2022 Q64 — History PYQ with Answer