The Dandi March, also called the Salt Satyagraha, was the inaugural act of the Civil Disobedience Movement, sanctioned by the Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress (December 1929) which had adopted the Purna Swaraj (complete independence) resolution and fixed 26 January 1930 as the first Independence Day. Mahatma Gandhi, armed with an eleven-point ultimatum to Viceroy Lord Irwin that went unanswered, chose the salt tax as the focal grievance because the British monopoly under the Salt Act of 1882 taxed a universal necessity and thereby touched every Indian, rich and poor, Hindu and Muslim. The march began on 12 March 1930 from the Sabarmati (Satyagraha) Ashram near Ahmedabad with 78 chosen volunteers and concluded on 6 April 1930 at the coastal village of Dandi in Gujarat, where Gandhi ceremonially picked up a lump of natural salt, declaring he was shaking the foundations of the British Empire.
The mechanism of the satyagraha was deliberate symbolic illegality: by manufacturing salt from seawater, ordinary Indians publicly violated a specific statute, inviting arrest and converting the courtroom and jail into instruments of moral pressure. The act was non-violent yet criminal in law, fulfilling Gandhi's doctrine of civil disobedience as the open, deliberate, peaceful breaking of an unjust law. The movement rapidly diversified beyond salt to include boycott of foreign cloth and liquor, non-payment of taxes (notably the no-tax campaign in Bardoli and the Bengal chowkidari tax refusal), the picketing of government offices, and the social mobilisation of women on an unprecedented scale. Sarojini Naidu led the Dharasana Salt Works raid in May 1930, where unarmed satyagrahis were brutally beaten, an episode reported globally by journalist Webb Miller.
Named participants and consequences anchor the event: C. Rajagopalachari led a parallel salt march at Vedaranyam in Madras, K. Kelappan in Malabar, and the North-West Frontier saw the rise of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's Khudai Khidmatgars (Red Shirts), culminating in the Qissa Khwani Bazaar firing at Peshawar. The colonial state arrested over 60,000 people, including Gandhi himself on 5 May 1930. The movement led directly to the First Round Table Conference (1930), the Gandhi–Irwin Pact of 5 March 1931 (which secured release of political prisoners and Congress participation in the Second Round Table Conference), and the temporary suspension of the campaign. Its enduring significance lay in demonstrating mass civil disobedience and drawing international attention to the Indian freedom struggle.
For UPSC and other civil-service examinations, the Dandi March is a high-frequency topic in Modern Indian History (GS Paper I and the optional History paper). Prelims questions test precise dates (12 March–6 April 1930), the starting point (Sabarmati Ashram), the destination (Dandi), the number of marchers, and the linkage to the Lahore Congress and the eleven demands. Mains questions typically ask candidates to analyse why Gandhi selected salt as the symbol, the role of women and regional leaders, and the comparative impact of Civil Disobedience versus the earlier Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22). Aspirants should also connect it to the Gandhi–Irwin Pact and the Round Table Conferences.
Example
On 6 April 1930, Mahatma Gandhi reached Dandi and lifted a handful of natural salt from the seashore, breaking the British salt law and igniting the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement.
Frequently asked questions
Salt was a universal necessity consumed by all Indians regardless of class, caste, or religion, and the British monopoly under the Salt Act of 1882 taxed even this basic commodity. Breaking the salt law was thus an act that every Indian could understand and join, maximising mass participation.