Swami Sahajanand Saraswati led the 'Bakasht movement' of tenants in Bihar, against eviction from their lands by zamindars, during:

Swami Sahajanand Saraswati led the Bakasht movement in Bihar during 1937-1938 (and continuing into 1939).

Meaning of "bakasht":

"Bakasht" land was land that the zamindars claimed to cultivate themselves (their own cultivation), which they had taken over from tenants who had failed to pay rent, especially during the economic depression of the 1930s.

The tenants had lost their rights over this land, and were often evicted or made to work as sharecroppers.

The movement:

• The Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha, led by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, launched the movement to restore the tenants' rights over bakasht lands.
• Tenants refused to leave the land, and continued to cultivate it, even when zamindars tried to evict them.
• They also demanded a reduction in rent and the abolition of illegal dues.
• There were clashes between the tenants and the zamindars' men, and many tenants were arrested.
• Women also took part in the movement.
• The Congress ministry in Bihar (formed in 1937) passed some laws to give relief to tenants, but the Kisan Sabha felt that these were not enough.
• The movement was suppressed by 1939.

About Swami Sahajanand Saraswati:

• He was born in 1889 at Deva, in the Ghazipur district of the United Provinces.
• He became a sannyasi, and later a leader of the peasant movement.
• He founded the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha in 1929.
• He was a key figure in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (1936).
• He wrote an autobiography, "Mera Jivan Sangharsh", and other books.
• He died in 1950.

Why not the other options?

• ✗1917-1918 was the period of Champaran and Kheda; 1920-1922 was the Non-Cooperation period; 1946-1947 was the period of the Tebhaga movement.