On 9 July 1917, he was appointed as a government nominee to the Champaran Agrarian Committee which had been set up to resolve the issue of indigo planters in Champaran following the Champaran Satyagraha by Mahatma Gandhi. In this committee, he worked with Mahatma Gandhi, and for his work in the Committee he was awarded the title of "Raja Bahadur" in 1919.