Gujarat: Book on Champaran Satyagraha launched, has testimonies of torture of 7,000 farmers

The Navajivan Trust and National Archives are much more committed to publish it, Suhrud said.Nowhere else has the statement of 7,000 farmers on an issue appeared through their own testimony, neither in Europe, India, Latin America, nor Africa, he said, adding the volume could not have been possible but for an institution like the National Archives.

A book capturing the voice of peasants of the 'Champaran Satyagraha' through their statements was launched here on Monday by Union Minister of State for Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal.

The 'Thumb Print-Champaran Indigo Peasants Speak to Gandhi, Volume-1' introduces testimonies of peasants and provides rich insights into the condition of the indigo peasants and the making of Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha.

It has been printed by the Ahmedabad-based Navajivan Press, with archival documents for the volume being provided by the National Archives of India.

The minister also launched a handbook titled 'Repair and Preservation of Records', which provides solutions to problems of preservation and longevity, as well mobile app 'Abhilekh Patal' and its web portal covering advanced search for online access to 3.3 million pages of digitised records.

Addressing the launch event, Meghwal said Champaran became the first laboratory of Mahatma Gandhi after his return from South Africa.

It was at Champaran that Gandhi took up the task of cleanliness, he said, adding that the Mahatma tapped the body, mind, intellect and soul of farmers to bring them together to oppose indigo farming imposed by the British.

''National Archives of India and Navajivan Trust launched a book and an Abhilekh Patal mobile app. The book is important for those who are interested in archives, research fellows who are interested in history,'' he said.

Tridip Suhrud, one of the editors of the book, said, if all eight volumes of the book are published, then this will become the biggest peasant archive document.

''It contains the story of torture of 7,000 farmers. Because I have been associated with historical writing, I know if we are able to establish these eight volumes, then this will become the biggest peasant archive document. The Navajivan Trust and National Archives are much more committed to publish it,'' Suhrud said.

''Nowhere else has the statement of 7,000 farmers on an issue appeared through their own testimony, neither in Europe, India, Latin America, nor Africa,'' he said, adding the volume could not have been possible but for an institution like the National Archives. ''Seven thousand documents entrusted to scholars with the hope that we will not misuse it, that we will be ethical about its uses, that's something National Archives has been doing for 125 years,'' he said.

Chandan Sinha, National Archives Director General, said the institution has undertaken digitisation on a massive scale, and the portal Abhilekha Patal contains half of all catalogues so far.

''The National Archives has also undertaken digitisation of its documents, and 4.5 crore documents have been digitised so far out of 18 crore,'' he said.

Shahid Amin and Megha Todi are two other editors of the volume.

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