The study examines the political economy of indigo farming in Champaran, British India. The nexus of Zamindars and planters gave birth to the draconian law of Teenkathiya settlement. Falling returns on natural indigo and tuff competition from synthetic indigo made peasants more vulnerable. Gandhi Satyagraha, the abolition of Teenkathiya settlement and socio-political impact of the movement is also analysed in the study

Singh, Bhanu Pratap

English

Munich Personal RePEc Archive

Munich Personal RePEc Archive
The Political Economy of Indigo farming
in India and Champaran Satyagraha
Singh, Bhanu Pratap
Mahatma Gandhi Central University
2017
Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/100408/
MPRA Paper No. 100408, posted 15 May 2020 05:28 UTC
1 
 
The Political Economy of Indigo farming in India and 
Champaran Satyagraha 
Dr. Bhanu Pratap Singh 
Assistant Professor 
Department of Economics and Planning 
Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari-845401, India 
Email: bhanuatindia@gmail.com 
 
1. Introduction 
After renaissance western world started searching for ways to increase the wealth of nations. 
In the early stage, bullions were considered to be one of the major sources to increase national 
wealth. Later trade and commerce through mercantile activities given birth to the idea of 
mercantilism. The invention of the steam engine had revolutionized industrial production. The 
demand for cheap industrial product led the formation of early multinational companies, 
namely, English East India Company, Dutch East India Company, etc. Industrial revolution 
and increasing demand of the industrial product in the western market also led to increase 
competition between the companies. There were two major challenges in front of companies, 
namely, first to find cheap raw material and second to get a larger market to sell industrial 
output at high margins to increase profits. 
The colour blue narrates the story of the exploitation of peasants in British Raj between. The 
rising demand for natural dye in the European market between 16th to 20th centuries attracted 
European business enterprise to undertake production, plantation and trade of Indigo from India 
to various destinations. To minimize cost planters with the help of Zamindars and the 
government were able to pass many draconian laws. The invention of artificial indigo had 
created an extra burden on the peasants which further added fuel to the distress of people. At 
the invitation of Raj Kumar Sukul, Gandhiji came to Champaran and with his first Satyagraha 
on Indian soil was able to abolish inhuman Teen Kathiha law by the implementation of 
Champaran Agrarian Law. The production and trade of Indigo led to form a draconian 
exploitative structure in India. 
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses Indigo farming in India 
and Tirhut. The business question of natural vs synthetic indigo is covered in section 3. Indigo 
and Satyagraha are discussed in section 4. Section 5 deals with the socioeconomic and political 
impact of Satyagraha. The study concludes with section 6. 
2 
 
2. Indigo farming in India and Tirhut 
Indigo (Neel) is a blue dye which comes from the Indigo plant. It was grown in India firstly for 
the East India Company and later for the British Raj. In the nineteenth century, it was one of 
the most profitable commodities traded in the European market. Hence, people also called it 
“Blue Gold”. In the nineteenth century, Indigo was grown all over India. Some of the finest 
Indigo was grown in the three major districts in the Tirhut region of Bihar. Approximately 3, 
70, 000 acres of land were cultivated and £50, 00, 000 capital was invested. The production 
was managed by 700 English men and 15, 00, 000 local natives (McDonald, M.N, p. 387). 
There was a significant increase in the Indigo production in the 18th and 19th century in Bengal 
and Bihar. Table 1 shows indigo production was increased from 62,500 maunds in the year 
1795-96 to 1,21, 000 maunds in the year 1831-32 respectively. The huge demand for 
indigenous indigo was in the European market led to increasing the cultivation area for Indigo 
in India. As discussed in the earlier section there are two major challenges in front of any 
business enterprise first to find cheap raw material and second to get a larger market to sell 
industrial output at high margins to increase profits. The same challenges were in front of 
indigo planters. From the cost point of view, the permanent land settlement system (Zamindari 
system) enabled English businessman to minimize their production cost. The low cost was also 
one of the major reasons to sell natural indigo at lower prices to get higher market shares and 
higher total profit. The colonization of India was the biggest advantage for the English Indigo 
Company to give tough competition in the indigo industry. 
Table 1: Indigo farming in Bengal and adjoining territories between 1795-96 and 1831-32 
Years Maunds Years Maunds Years Maunds 
1795-96 62500 1808-09 94539 1821-22 92848 
1796-97 32300 1809-10 43012 1822-23 112606 
1797-98 54600 1810-11 73407 1823*24 80315 
1798-99 23800 1811-12 69654 1824-25 110227 
1799-1800 35540 1812-13 73883 1825-26 156548 
1800-01 39900 1813-14 74585 1826-27 79678 
1801-02 38500 1814-15 102662 1827-28 151699 
1802-03 29800 1815-16 114481 1828-29 98009 
1803-04 54048 1816-17 83000 1829-30 132946 
1804-05 64803 1817-18 72000 1830-31 129117 
1805-06 85380 1818-19 75000 1831-32 121000 
1807-07 51244 1819-20 106843 
  
1807-08 103950 1820-21 76254 
  
Note: 1 maund= 33.868 kg 
   
3 
 
Source: John Phipps, A Series of Treatises on the Principal Products of Bengal , 1832, p. 
35.   
 
A large amount of best natural indigo was exported from Tirhut to other destinations, all over 
the world. The geography and land settlement system, both have helped indigo manufacturers 
to concentrate on this region. Champaran, Saran, Muzzafarpur and Darbhanga were the four 
major indigo tracts of Tirhut region. The climatic condition and soil of this region were best to 
cultivate the best quality of natural indigo. Most of the indigo from this region was traded from 
Calcutta. 
Fig 1: Indigo tracts of Tirhut showing the four prominent districts, 1870 
 
 
Source: Prakash Kumar, Indigo Plantations and Science in Colonial India, p. 131 
Table 2 shows the export of indigo from Tirhut to various destinations for the period spanning 
from 1873-74 to 1899-1900. The figures show a significant declining trend of the quantity of 
indigo exported from Tirhut to the United Kingdom, United States, France and Australia, 
Germany and Japan in the 19th century. In the first half of the 19th-century Indigo export started 
rising which declined in the second half. 
Table 2: Export of Indigo from Tirhut to other parts of the world (Hundreds of pounds) 
 
Britain United States France Austria Germany Japan 
1873-74 47,169 5,144 9,287 5,491 
  
1874-75 33,570 2,331 8,078 5,487 
  
1875-76 51,524 3,912 16,178 6,411 
  
1876-77 40,833 6,157 11,961 5,813 
  
1877-78 44,030 9,826 29,982 6,618 
  
4 
 
1878-79 35,539 10,773 14,045 7,125 
  
1879-80 20,897 12,194 7,770 4,911 
  
1880-81 51,232 NA NA NA 
  
1881-82 44,394 NA NA NA 
  
1882-83 46,908 NA NA NA 
  
1883-843 57,916 NA NA NA 
  
1884-85 50,402 NA NA NA 
  
1885-86 31,439 18,654 10,862 NA 
  
1886-87 31,146 25,750 12,868 NA 
  
1887-88 30,434 19,258 15,454 10,858 
  
1888-89 30,436 22,671 9,677 10,700 8,073 
 
1889-90 35,012 21,206 9,439 11,119 9,546 
 
1890-91 32,443 12,220 6,610 7,344 6,974 
 
1891-92 31,748 20,251 14,354 10,116 11,775 
 
1892-93 17,084 16,417 9,393 7,428 3,998 
 
1893-94 26,192 11,900 8,729 10,250 11,756 
 
1894-95 31,248 23,601 13,377 10,920 14,026 
 
1895-96 33,130 17,148 17,021 12,629 14,648 
 
1896-97 41,849 20,445 10,604 10,563 10,974 
 
1897-98 19,076 20,102 7,026 9,347 6,297 
 
1898-99 22,972 17,922 8,350 9,732 7,785 
 
1899–1900 13,215 10,405 9,497 6,755 5,494 5,597 
 Source : Jacques Pouchepadass,  Champaran and Gandhi,  appendix, Table H.   
 
3. The Business Question of Natural vs Synthetic Indigo 
Synthetic indigo was the result of continuous research and development in the western indigo 
industry. The industry got a place in the market in the mid of nineteenth century. The synthetic 
indigo was made from coal-tar hydrocarbons. Till 3rd quarter of the 19th century, English and 
French manufacturer dominated the industry. Later in 1870 German manufacturer dominated 
the industry. In the first decade of the 20th century, the natural indigo prices were all-time low 
because of the competition by synthetic German indigo producers. But still many planters 
remained in the business and put their efforts to reduce the prices of natural indigo. Later Bihar 
Indigo Planters’ Association found it’s very hard to put natural indigo prices down. 
Sir Edward Law, financial member of Governor-General Council in the budget speech of 1904, 
in the Imperial Council announced a continuous drive to reduce cost in the natural indigo 
industry. He suggested reducing budget outlay of the indigo planters. This led to increasing 
pressure on planters and zamindars but they successfully managed to shift the burden on 
farmers. The English business enterprise dealing in natural indigo found very tough to survive 
in the market. 
 
5 
 
4. Indigo farming and Land Tenancy in Champaran 
In the eighteenth-century indigo concerns of North Bihar which was known as Nil Kothis came 
into existence. As discussed in the earlier sections a large amount of natural indigo was grown 
in the Tirhut region. In Champaran, planters got large tracts of land on a temporary and 
permanent basis from Zamindars and insolvent Maharaja of Betttiah. The planters were able to 
grow indigo in this region on the contract of 3/20 th part of their land. This system was legalized 
by the Bengal Tenancy Act. This system was later famous with the name Teen Kathiya Sattas. 
If farmers fail to do that, they had to pay a penalty of Rs 100, called Tawan. The prevalent land 
settlement system left nothing to farmers and the entire profit goes to Zamindars, Planters and 
Britishes. 
The quantity and value of natural indigo were started declining in the last decade of the 19th 
century and situation became worse in the 1st decade of the 20th century. Table 3 shows the 
quantity and value of natural indigo between1896 to 1902 in the London market. 
Table 3: Quantity and value of natural Indigo in London 1896-1902 
Year Quantity (cwts) Value (rupees) 
1896–97 169,523 43,707,570 
1897–98 133,849 30,574,019 
1898–9 135,187 29,704,781 
1899–1900 111,420 26,925,107 
1900–01 102,491 21,359,808 
1901–02 89,750 18,522,554 
 Note: (1 cwt or centum weight = 112 lbs.)    
Source:  Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, January 1903, p. 19.  
 
There was also a decline in the export of Indigo from India but Calcutta remains to be one of 
the larger exporters of indigo from India. Most of the indigo exported from Calcutta was 
coming from Bengal and surrounding areas. Table 4 shows the declining trend of indigo export 
from India and Calcutta for the period 1906-13. 
Table 4. Quantity and value of indigo exported from India, 1906-13 
Year Export 
from 
Calcutta 
Total Export 
from India 
Export from Calcutta as % of 
total Export from India 
Average price 
per cwt in 
London 
1906-7 19,309 35,102 55.01 £20 6s Od. 
1907-8 16,627 32,490 51.18 £20 Is. 4d. 
1908-9 17,698 24,946 70.95 £20 10s. 8d. 
1909-10 11,221 18,061 62.13 £20 Is. 4d. 
1910-11 10,985 16,939 64.85 £20 15s. 4d. 
1911-12 14,556 19,213 75.76 £20 2s. Id. 
6 
 
1912-13 9,229 11,857 77.84 £17 10s. Od. 
 Source: Review of the Trade of India in 1911-12 and Review of the Trade of India in 1912-
13 
 
5. Indigo and Satyagraha 
British abolished slavery in one part of the world and introduced in another part. Zamindari, 
Royatwari and Mahalwari were the land settlement system introduced by Britishers, which 
emerged as a new kind of slavery in the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century. 
The alliance between Zamindars and foreign planters led to increasing exploitations of farmers. 
The planters were from the ruling race and enjoyed enormous power. They used to misuse their 
power and exploit farmers with the help of Lathiyals and their regiment of Dhangers. 
After the invention of artificial indigo, the planters started suffering loses but they had shifted 
their losses on the shoulder of farmers by introducing sharabheshi, tawan, hunda, and harja. On 
the other hand, some planters compelled farmers to grow other crops to meet their losses by 
compelling them to grow paddy in place of indigo. Consequently, the mass distress was 
converted into the violent demonstration. The farmers from Pandoul indigo factory show mass 
protest in the year 1867. Later trouble spread to Lalsaraiya and people refuse to grow indigo 
and committed an act of violence against the planters and government. The situation was so 
grim that the military was called to protect railway station in Motihari. After 1908-09 farmers 
refused to grow indigo and murders managers and planters in the Motihari and surrounding 
areas. People refuse to pay taxes under Teen Kathiya and started forming groups against the 
planters, Zamindars and government. 
Apart from land settlement system famines and scarcity added fuel into the situation. It was the 
year 1911 when numerous farmers gathered at Narkatiyaganj railway station to plea before His 
Majesty King-Emperor George V. Later mass consciousness was found in Bihar against indigo 
plantation and also tabled on the floor of Councils. A local newspaper Beharee from Patna 
published a series of articles under the slogan “The Planters and Ryots”. The demand for an 
enquiry committee was made by Brij Kishore Prasad in the legislative council. 
Raj Kumar Sukul a farmer from Champaran came forward to fight against the indigo planters. 
Sukul was the son of Kolahal Sukul, an indigo farmer from Satwaria village of Champaran. He 
was born sometime around 1875. He had filed several petitions to the government against 
planters.  
7 
 
 In a surge of national leadership, Sukul attended many local and national conferences. He 
approached Madan Mohan Malviya and Bal Gangadhar Tilak for help. Tilak was busy with 
some political issue and Malviya was busy with the affairs of Banaras Hindu University. Later 
he decided to attend a meeting of the Indian National Congress at Lucknow in December 2016. 
Coincidently he met Gandhiji and tried to explain the problem of indigo cultivators of 
Champaran. Gandhiji had not understood his problem because of two reasons, firstly he was 
speaking in Bhojpuri and secondly he had no idea about indigo or Champaran. Sukul followed 
Gandhiji from Lucknow to Patna and tried to explain the problem of farmers. Later Gandhiji 
went to Calcutta to attend a meeting where Sukul was also present. Sukul convinced Gandhiji 
to come to Champaran. Gandhiji came to Patna with Sukul and visited Champaran. Initially, 
he was very angry on Sukul because of the uncomfort at Champaran. Later he realized the 
problem of the farmers. 
At the same time, the Home Rule movement was on its peak. The Champaran Agrarian Enquiry 
Committee submitted its report in which Gandhiji was also one of the members. The committee 
recommended permanent abolishment of Teen Kathiya Satta. The Champaran Agrarian Law 
was the moral victory of farmers. 
6. Socio-economic and Political impact of Satyagraha 
The market forces led to growing indigo by the planters in India and Tirhut region in 18th, 19th 
and the first decade of 20th century. To keep profit margin high the planters exploited 
cultivators through permanent land settlement system and other coercive measures. 
The Satyagraha started by Gandhiji led to the abolishment of Teen Kathiya system by 
Champaran Agrarian Law of Governor-General of India on May 1st, 1918. Later Gandhiji 
started basic schools to educate people of that region. Gandhiji movement bought 
consciousness among people which also bought nationalistic feeling among the local people. 
Satyagraha tried to bridge the inequality of people and income distribution which was widened 
in the 18th and 19th century. 
The Champaran Satyagraha was the first experiment of non-violence movement of Gandhiji 
which later became a reference to the freedom fighters and given leadership to Indian national 
freedom movement. After the success of Champaran Satyagraha general masses realized there 
could be alternative non-violent ways to achieve freedom and importance of Satyagraha. 
8 
 
In the post Satyagraha period, people realized the significance of Satyagraha and political 
leadership came in the hand of Gandhiji. He became one of the prominent figures of Congress 
and the Indian freedom movement. 
7. Conclusion 
Under free-market enterprise mode of production and trade of indigo by allying with 
indigenous people, multi-national companies given birth to exploitative structure in the pre-
independence period. The price crash of natural indigo in the European market was the major 
reason behind the farmer’s distress. Gandhiji gave leadership to the Indigo peasants and 
Champaran agrarian crisis, which finally resulted in the abolition of such practices by social 
and political movements. In the current world scenario, the same problem is faced by the 
farmers engaged in the cultivation of cotton and other commercial crops in India. The WTO 
agreement opened gates of the Indian market to the world. The globalization led to worsening 
terms of trade for Indian farmers in the global market. The farm and the agrarian distress in 
India also require political and social leadership. The lessons should be taken from Gandhian 
philosophy and Champaran Satyagraha.  
References: 
Ghildiyal, S., 2010. Moral economy and the indigo Movement. Economic and Political 
Weekly, pp.67-72. 
Government of India: Review of the Trade of India in 1905-06, by Frederick Noel Patton, 
Director General of Commercial Intelligence, Calcutta, 1906, 36. 
Herbert Levinstein, “The Future of the Indigo Industry, with a Description of the 
Manufacture of Indigo from Naphthalene,”  Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists,  
June 1 901 , pp. 138–42.  
Jacques Pouchepadass,  Champaran and Gandhi: Planters, Peasants and   Gandhian Politics , 
Delhi: Oxford University Press,  1999 , pp. 37–40 
John Phipps,  A Series of Treatises on the Principal Products of Bengal ,  No. 1 ,  Indigo,  
1832, pp. iii–iv.  
Kumar, P., 2007. Plantation science: improving natural indigo in colonial India, 1860–1913. 
The British Journal for the History of Science, 40(04), pp.537-565. 
9 
 
Kumar, P., 2012. Indigo plantations and science in colonial India. Cambridge University 
Press. 
Mittal, S.K. and Dutt, K., 1976. Raj Kumar Sukul and the Peasant Upsurge in Champaran. 
Social Scientist, pp.25-36. 
Mundargi, T., 1990. Congress and Zamindars: Collaboration and Consultation in Bihar, 
1915-36. Economic and Political Weekly, pp.1217-1222. 
McDonald, M.N. Indigo Planting in India. Pearson Magazine. 
https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/articles/mmn_indg.pdf 
Nadri, G.A., 2016. The Political Economy of Indigo in India, 1580-1930: A Global 
Perspective. Brill. 
Roy, T., 2011. Indigo and law in colonial India. The Economic History Review, 64(s1), 
pp.60-75. 


The Political Economy of Indigo farming in India and Champaran Satyagraha

Munich RePEc Personal Archive

Munich Personal RePEc ArchiveThe Political Economy of Indigo farmingin India and Champaran SatyagrahaSingh, Bhanu PratapMahatma Gandhi Central University2017Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/100408/MPRA Paper No. 100408, posted 15 May 2020 05:28 UTC1  The Political Economy of Indigo farming in India and Champaran Satyagraha Dr. Bhanu Pratap Singh Assistant Professor Department of Economics and Planning Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari-845401, India Email: bhanuatindia@gmail.com  1. Introduction After renaissance western world started searching for ways to increase the wealth of nations. In the early stage, bullions were considered to be one of the major sources to increase national wealth. Later trade and commerce through mercantile activities given birth to the idea of mercantilism. The invention of the steam engine had revolutionized industrial production. The demand for cheap industrial product led the formation of early multinational companies, namely, English East India Company, Dutch East India Company, etc. Industrial revolution and increasing demand of the industrial product in the western market also led to increase competition between the companies. There were two major challenges in front of companies, namely, first to find cheap raw material and second to get a larger market to sell industrial output at high margins to increase profits. The colour blue narrates the story of the exploitation of peasants in British Raj between. The rising demand for natural dye in the European market between 16th to 20th centuries attracted European business enterprise to undertake production, plantation and trade of Indigo from India to various destinations. To minimize cost planters with the help of Zamindars and the government were able to pass many draconian laws. The invention of artificial indigo had created an extra burden on the peasants which further added fuel to the distress of people. At the invitation of Raj Kumar Sukul, Gandhiji came to Champaran and with his first Satyagraha on Indian soil was able to abolish inhuman Teen Kathiha law by the implementation of Champaran Agrarian Law. The production and trade of Indigo led to form a draconian exploitative structure in India. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses Indigo farming in India and Tirhut. The business question of natural vs synthetic indigo is covered in section 3. Indigo and Satyagraha are discussed in section 4. Section 5 deals with the socioeconomic and political impact of Satyagraha. The study concludes with section 6. 2  2. Indigo farming in India and Tirhut Indigo (Neel) is a blue dye which comes from the Indigo plant. It was grown in India firstly for the East India Company and later for the British Raj. In the nineteenth century, it was one of the most profitable commodities traded in the European market. Hence, people also called it “Blue Gold”. In the nineteenth century, Indigo was grown all over India. Some of the finest Indigo was grown in the three major districts in the Tirhut region of Bihar. Approximately 3, 70, 000 acres of land were cultivated and £50, 00, 000 capital was invested. The production was managed by 700 English men and 15, 00, 000 local natives (McDonald, M.N, p. 387). There was a significant increase in the Indigo production in the 18th and 19th century in Bengal and Bihar. Table 1 shows indigo production was increased from 62,500 maunds in the year 1795-96 to 1,21, 000 maunds in the year 1831-32 respectively. The huge demand for indigenous indigo was in the European market led to increasing the cultivation area for Indigo in India. As discussed in the earlier section there are two major challenges in front of any business enterprise first to find cheap raw material and second to get a larger market to sell industrial output at high margins to increase profits. The same challenges were in front of indigo planters. From the cost point of view, the permanent land settlement system (Zamindari system) enabled English businessman to minimize their production cost. The low cost was also one of the major reasons to sell natural indigo at lower prices to get higher market shares and higher total profit. The colonization of India was the biggest advantage for the English Indigo Company to give tough competition in the indigo industry. Table 1: Indigo farming in Bengal and adjoining territories between 1795-96 and 1831-32 Years Maunds Years Maunds Years Maunds 1795-96 62500 1808-09 94539 1821-22 92848 1796-97 32300 1809-10 43012 1822-23 112606 1797-98 54600 1810-11 73407 1823*24 80315 1798-99 23800 1811-12 69654 1824-25 110227 1799-1800 35540 1812-13 73883 1825-26 156548 1800-01 39900 1813-14 74585 1826-27 79678 1801-02 38500 1814-15 102662 1827-28 151699 1802-03 29800 1815-16 114481 1828-29 98009 1803-04 54048 1816-17 83000 1829-30 132946 1804-05 64803 1817-18 72000 1830-31 129117 1805-06 85380 1818-19 75000 1831-32 121000 1807-07 51244 1819-20 106843   1807-08 103950 1820-21 76254   Note: 1 maund= 33.868 kg    3  Source: John Phipps, A Series of Treatises on the Principal Products of Bengal , 1832, p. 35.    A large amount of best natural indigo was exported from Tirhut to other destinations, all over the world. The geography and land settlement system, both have helped indigo manufacturers to concentrate on this region. Champaran, Saran, Muzzafarpur and Darbhanga were the four major indigo tracts of Tirhut region. The climatic condition and soil of this region were best to cultivate the best quality of natural indigo. Most of the indigo from this region was traded from Calcutta. Fig 1: Indigo tracts of Tirhut showing the four prominent districts, 1870   Source: Prakash Kumar, Indigo Plantations and Science in Colonial India, p. 131 Table 2 shows the export of indigo from Tirhut to various destinations for the period spanning from 1873-74 to 1899-1900. The figures show a significant declining trend of the quantity of indigo exported from Tirhut to the United Kingdom, United States, France and Australia, Germany and Japan in the 19th century. In the first half of the 19th-century Indigo export started rising which declined in the second half. Table 2: Export of Indigo from Tirhut to other parts of the world (Hundreds of pounds)  Britain United States France Austria Germany Japan 1873-74 47,169 5,144 9,287 5,491   1874-75 33,570 2,331 8,078 5,487   1875-76 51,524 3,912 16,178 6,411   1876-77 40,833 6,157 11,961 5,813   1877-78 44,030 9,826 29,982 6,618   4  1878-79 35,539 10,773 14,045 7,125   1879-80 20,897 12,194 7,770 4,911   1880-81 51,232 NA NA NA   1881-82 44,394 NA NA NA   1882-83 46,908 NA NA NA   1883-843 57,916 NA NA NA   1884-85 50,402 NA NA NA   1885-86 31,439 18,654 10,862 NA   1886-87 31,146 25,750 12,868 NA   1887-88 30,434 19,258 15,454 10,858   1888-89 30,436 22,671 9,677 10,700 8,073  1889-90 35,012 21,206 9,439 11,119 9,546  1890-91 32,443 12,220 6,610 7,344 6,974  1891-92 31,748 20,251 14,354 10,116 11,775  1892-93 17,084 16,417 9,393 7,428 3,998  1893-94 26,192 11,900 8,729 10,250 11,756  1894-95 31,248 23,601 13,377 10,920 14,026  1895-96 33,130 17,148 17,021 12,629 14,648  1896-97 41,849 20,445 10,604 10,563 10,974  1897-98 19,076 20,102 7,026 9,347 6,297  1898-99 22,972 17,922 8,350 9,732 7,785  1899–1900 13,215 10,405 9,497 6,755 5,494 5,597  Source : Jacques Pouchepadass,  Champaran and Gandhi,  appendix, Table H.    3. The Business Question of Natural vs Synthetic Indigo Synthetic indigo was the result of continuous research and development in the western indigo industry. The industry got a place in the market in the mid of nineteenth century. The synthetic indigo was made from coal-tar hydrocarbons. Till 3rd quarter of the 19th century, English and French manufacturer dominated the industry. Later in 1870 German manufacturer dominated the industry. In the first decade of the 20th century, the natural indigo prices were all-time low because of the competition by synthetic German indigo producers. But still many planters remained in the business and put their efforts to reduce the prices of natural indigo. Later Bihar Indigo Planters’ Association found it’s very hard to put natural indigo prices down. Sir Edward Law, financial member of Governor-General Council in the budget speech of 1904, in the Imperial Council announced a continuous drive to reduce cost in the natural indigo industry. He suggested reducing budget outlay of the indigo planters. This led to increasing pressure on planters and zamindars but they successfully managed to shift the burden on farmers. The English business enterprise dealing in natural indigo found very tough to survive in the market.  5  4. Indigo farming and Land Tenancy in Champaran In the eighteenth-century indigo concerns of North Bihar which was known as Nil Kothis came into existence. As discussed in the earlier sections a large amount of natural indigo was grown in the Tirhut region. In Champaran, planters got large tracts of land on a temporary and permanent basis from Zamindars and insolvent Maharaja of Betttiah. The planters were able to grow indigo in this region on the contract of 3/20 th part of their land. This system was legalized by the Bengal Tenancy Act. This system was later famous with the name Teen Kathiya Sattas. If farmers fail to do that, they had to pay a penalty of Rs 100, called Tawan. The prevalent land settlement system left nothing to farmers and the entire profit goes to Zamindars, Planters and Britishes. The quantity and value of natural indigo were started declining in the last decade of the 19th century and situation became worse in the 1st decade of the 20th century. Table 3 shows the quantity and value of natural indigo between1896 to 1902 in the London market. Table 3: Quantity and value of natural Indigo in London 1896-1902 Year Quantity (cwts) Value (rupees) 1896–97 169,523 43,707,570 1897–98 133,849 30,574,019 1898–9 135,187 29,704,781 1899–1900 111,420 26,925,107 1900–01 102,491 21,359,808 1901–02 89,750 18,522,554  Note: (1 cwt or centum weight = 112 lbs.)    Source:  Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, January 1903, p. 19.   There was also a decline in the export of Indigo from India but Calcutta remains to be one of the larger exporters of indigo from India. Most of the indigo exported from Calcutta was coming from Bengal and surrounding areas. Table 4 shows the declining trend of indigo export from India and Calcutta for the period 1906-13. Table 4. Quantity and value of indigo exported from India, 1906-13 Year Export from Calcutta Total Export from India Export from Calcutta as % of total Export from India Average price per cwt in London 1906-7 19,309 35,102 55.01 £20 6s Od. 1907-8 16,627 32,490 51.18 £20 Is. 4d. 1908-9 17,698 24,946 70.95 £20 10s. 8d. 1909-10 11,221 18,061 62.13 £20 Is. 4d. 1910-11 10,985 16,939 64.85 £20 15s. 4d. 1911-12 14,556 19,213 75.76 £20 2s. Id. 6  1912-13 9,229 11,857 77.84 £17 10s. Od.  Source: Review of the Trade of India in 1911-12 and Review of the Trade of India in 1912-13  5. Indigo and Satyagraha British abolished slavery in one part of the world and introduced in another part. Zamindari, Royatwari and Mahalwari were the land settlement system introduced by Britishers, which emerged as a new kind of slavery in the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century. The alliance between Zamindars and foreign planters led to increasing exploitations of farmers. The planters were from the ruling race and enjoyed enormous power. They used to misuse their power and exploit farmers with the help of Lathiyals and their regiment of Dhangers. After the invention of artificial indigo, the planters started suffering loses but they had shifted their losses on the shoulder of farmers by introducing sharabheshi, tawan, hunda, and harja. On the other hand, some planters compelled farmers to grow other crops to meet their losses by compelling them to grow paddy in place of indigo. Consequently, the mass distress was converted into the violent demonstration. The farmers from Pandoul indigo factory show mass protest in the year 1867. Later trouble spread to Lalsaraiya and people refuse to grow indigo and committed an act of violence against the planters and government. The situation was so grim that the military was called to protect railway station in Motihari. After 1908-09 farmers refused to grow indigo and murders managers and planters in the Motihari and surrounding areas. People refuse to pay taxes under Teen Kathiya and started forming groups against the planters, Zamindars and government. Apart from land settlement system famines and scarcity added fuel into the situation. It was the year 1911 when numerous farmers gathered at Narkatiyaganj railway station to plea before His Majesty King-Emperor George V. Later mass consciousness was found in Bihar against indigo plantation and also tabled on the floor of Councils. A local newspaper Beharee from Patna published a series of articles under the slogan “The Planters and Ryots”. The demand for an enquiry committee was made by Brij Kishore Prasad in the legislative council. Raj Kumar Sukul a farmer from Champaran came forward to fight against the indigo planters. Sukul was the son of Kolahal Sukul, an indigo farmer from Satwaria village of Champaran. He was born sometime around 1875. He had filed several petitions to the government against planters.  7   In a surge of national leadership, Sukul attended many local and national conferences. He approached Madan Mohan Malviya and Bal Gangadhar Tilak for help. Tilak was busy with some political issue and Malviya was busy with the affairs of Banaras Hindu University. Later he decided to attend a meeting of the Indian National Congress at Lucknow in December 2016. Coincidently he met Gandhiji and tried to explain the problem of indigo cultivators of Champaran. Gandhiji had not understood his problem because of two reasons, firstly he was speaking in Bhojpuri and secondly he had no idea about indigo or Champaran. Sukul followed Gandhiji from Lucknow to Patna and tried to explain the problem of farmers. Later Gandhiji went to Calcutta to attend a meeting where Sukul was also present. Sukul convinced Gandhiji to come to Champaran. Gandhiji came to Patna with Sukul and visited Champaran. Initially, he was very angry on Sukul because of the uncomfort at Champaran. Later he realized the problem of the farmers. At the same time, the Home Rule movement was on its peak. The Champaran Agrarian Enquiry Committee submitted its report in which Gandhiji was also one of the members. The committee recommended permanent abolishment of Teen Kathiya Satta. The Champaran Agrarian Law was the moral victory of farmers. 6. Socio-economic and Political impact of Satyagraha The market forces led to growing indigo by the planters in India and Tirhut region in 18th, 19th and the first decade of 20th century. To keep profit margin high the planters exploited cultivators through permanent land settlement system and other coercive measures. The Satyagraha started by Gandhiji led to the abolishment of Teen Kathiya system by Champaran Agrarian Law of Governor-General of India on May 1st, 1918. Later Gandhiji started basic schools to educate people of that region. Gandhiji movement bought consciousness among people which also bought nationalistic feeling among the local people. Satyagraha tried to bridge the inequality of people and income distribution which was widened in the 18th and 19th century. The Champaran Satyagraha was the first experiment of non-violence movement of Gandhiji which later became a reference to the freedom fighters and given leadership to Indian national freedom movement. After the success of Champaran Satyagraha general masses realized there could be alternative non-violent ways to achieve freedom and importance of Satyagraha. 8  In the post Satyagraha period, people realized the significance of Satyagraha and political leadership came in the hand of Gandhiji. He became one of the prominent figures of Congress and the Indian freedom movement. 7. Conclusion Under free-market enterprise mode of production and trade of indigo by allying with indigenous people, multi-national companies given birth to exploitative structure in the pre-independence period. The price crash of natural indigo in the European market was the major reason behind the farmer’s distress. Gandhiji gave leadership to the Indigo peasants and Champaran agrarian crisis, which finally resulted in the abolition of such practices by social and political movements. In the current world scenario, the same problem is faced by the farmers engaged in the cultivation of cotton and other commercial crops in India. The WTO agreement opened gates of the Indian market to the world. The globalization led to worsening terms of trade for Indian farmers in the global market. The farm and the agrarian distress in India also require political and social leadership. The lessons should be taken from Gandhian philosophy and Champaran Satyagraha.  References: Ghildiyal, S., 2010. Moral economy and the indigo Movement. Economic and Political Weekly, pp.67-72. Government of India: Review of the Trade of India in 1905-06, by Frederick Noel Patton, Director General of Commercial Intelligence, Calcutta, 1906, 36. Herbert Levinstein, “The Future of the Indigo Industry, with a Description of the Manufacture of Indigo from Naphthalene,”  Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists,  June 1 901 , pp. 138–42.  Jacques Pouchepadass,  Champaran and Gandhi: Planters, Peasants and   Gandhian Politics , Delhi: Oxford University Press,  1999 , pp. 37–40 John Phipps,  A Series of Treatises on the Principal Products of Bengal ,  No. 1 ,  Indigo,  1832, pp. iii–iv.  Kumar, P., 2007. Plantation science: improving natural indigo in colonial India, 1860–1913. The British Journal for the History of Science, 40(04), pp.537-565. 9  Kumar, P., 2012. Indigo plantations and science in colonial India. Cambridge University Press. Mittal, S.K. and Dutt, K., 1976. Raj Kumar Sukul and the Peasant Upsurge in Champaran. Social Scientist, pp.25-36. Mundargi, T., 1990. Congress and Zamindars: Collaboration and Consultation in Bihar, 1915-36. Economic and Political Weekly, pp.1217-1222. McDonald, M.N. Indigo Planting in India. Pearson Magazine. https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/articles/mmn_indg.pdf Nadri, G.A., 2016. The Political Economy of Indigo in India, 1580-1930: A Global Perspective. Brill. Roy, T., 2011. Indigo and law in colonial India. The Economic History Review, 64(s1), pp.60-75. 

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The Political Economy of Indigo farming in India and Champaran Satyagraha

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