90 yrs of salt movement

90 yrs of salt movement

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-I- Modern History

In News:

• The salt movement led by Gandhi started on March 12 in 1930, from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi (240 miles)
• The Salt March is also known as the Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha.
• Objective: 
  • To produce salt from the seawater in the coastal village of Dandi, as was the practice of the local populace until British officials introduced taxation on salt production and deemed their sea-salt reclamation activities illegal.
  • It was a direct-action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly under the 1882 British Salt Act. 
• The march directly followed the Poorna Swaraj declaration of sovereignty and self-rule by the Indian National Congress on 26 January 1930. 
• The then Viceroy, Lord Irwin was hardly perturbed by the threat of a salt protest and the government did nothing to prevent the salt march from taking place.
• The salt tax accounted for 8.2% of the British Raj revenue from tax 
• When Gandhi broke the salt laws on 6 April 1930, it sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the British Raj salt laws by millions of Indians. 
• As per the Gandhi-Irwin Pact Indians were allowed to make salt for domestic use