The Third phase of National Movement

(Gandhi Era -1919-1947)
➮ The third phase of the national movement is called the ‘Gandhi- Era’.
➮ Gandhiji returned from South Africa to India on 9 Jan 1915 and joined the national movement.
➮ Here Gandhiji met with Gokhale, The thought of Gokhale influenced Gandhiji much and he accepted him as his political Guru.
➮ Gandhiji tried the efficacy of his weapon in India first in Champaran.
➮ Champaran was a district of the Tirhut division of the Bihar province.
➮ The tenants of this district were bound by contract to plant trees out of twenty parts of his land with indigo for his landlord who, by and large, was Englishman.
➮ This system was known as ‘tinkathia system’.
➮ But when Indigo became unremunerative, the European planters imposed higher taxes to compensate their losses in the international trade at that time.
➮ Gandhiji was requested by Rajkumar Shukla to look into the problems of the Indigo planters.
➮ Gandhiji was successful in abolishing the tinkathia systems and a refund was made to the cultivators in wages.

Movement of Ahmedabad Mill workers (1918)
➮ In Ahmedabad, the dispute was between the mill owners and workers over the ‘plague bonus’ which the owner wanted to withdraw once the epidemic was over.
➮ Gandhiji requested the mill owners to pay wages but they refused to do so.
➮ Gandhiji advised the workers to go on strike and explained to them what it meant. Gandhiji advised the workers to go on strike and he undertook hunger strike after which the mill owners press into accepting the tribunal award of 35% increase in wages.
➮ This was the second victory of Gandhiji’s fight for justice.