West Champaran Indigo Gandhi Satyagraha Nilhe Cooperative

West Champaran district in Bihar was the site of Gandhi first mass nonviolent satyagraha in India in 1917, launched to protest the exploitative Tinkathia system under which indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) cultivators were forced to grow indigo on three-twentieths of their land for European planters at below-market prices. Gandhi investigation of the plight of Champaran indigo farmers and his subsequent negotiation with British planters and Government of Bihar led to abolition of the forced indigo contract system. Natural indigo cultivation subsequently revived in Champaran and Sitamarhi through cooperative extension. Today West Champaran Indigo Revival Cooperative grows natural Indigofera plants under DISHA programme for textile natural dye markets, supplying organic indigo to Rajasthani block-print cooperatives and European natural fashion designers. The Motihari Gandhi Sangrahalaya commemorates the 1917 Champaran movement at the original inquiry site.