Department of Western History, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India.
The study of Champaran Movement in Bihar reveals the colonial policy of British Empire towards indigo plantation. It was determined by the needs of the remittance as well as the demand of indigo. Due to the rapid increase in demand of indigo in European markets British began to expand its cultivation in the whole Bihar. Though indigo business was private enterprises, indigo cultivation in the remote areas were considered for sustaining the interests of British Empire from grass route level. Bentinck favoured the presence of European in the ‘Mufassil’ as it would ‘civilise’ Indians by disseminating European art and science among the natives. It was clear indication of ‘white man's burden’ to civilise the east. The peasants were humiliated by planters and the zamindars. In the north Bihar there were about four hundred indigo concerns during that period. It looked like a cobweb in which large numbers of raiyats had been inextricably entangled. The triple alliance between the Government, planter and the zamindar was formed in agrarian society to control the actual producers. Thus alliance ruined Bihar peasants economically, socially and morally.
