--- title: "Dandi March 1930: Salt Satyagraha Explained | Model Diplomat" description: "The Dandi March (1930) was Gandhi's 385-km walk to break Britain's salt tax, launching the Civil Disobedience Movement. Key dates, route and UPSC GS1 relevance." url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/dandi-march-1930" --- [New](https://modeldiplomat.com/) # Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026 TL;DR - The Dandi March was a 24-day, 385-kilometre protest walk led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1930 to break the British salt monopoly and launch the Civil Disobedience Movement. - Why did Gandhi choose salt as the focus of the 1930 campaign? - How is the Dandi March different from the Non-Cooperation Movement? - What was the immediate outcome of the Salt Satyagraha? - How long was the Dandi March and who took part? [Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026 Go beyond the definition ## Research Dandi March 1930 like a delegate Model Diplomat's AI drafts position papers, speeches, and country research with real sources — built for MUN and politics students. ## Timeline 1. 2 March 1930 On he addressed an eleven-point ultimatum to Viceroy Lord Irwin; receiving no satisfactory reply, he set out to deliberately and publicly violate the statute. 2. 12 March 1930 The march began on the morning of from Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram near Ahmedabad in Gujarat. 3. 6 April 1930 Before dawn on Gandhi reached the seashore at Dandi, bathed, and at approximately 8:30 a.m. 4. 5 March 1931 Viceroy Lord Irwin headed the colonial administration, and the confrontation culminated the following year in the Gandhi–Irwin Pact of , under which the gove… ## Positions at a glance ### Indian National Congress The Dandi March, also called the Salt March or Salt Satyagraha, originated in the political deadlock that followed the Indian National Congress's Lahore session of December 1929, where the party adopted the resolution of Purna Swaraj (complete independence) and authorised a programme of civil disobedience. The legal target was the Salt Laws, codified principally in the Salt Act of 1882, which vested in the colonial government a monopoly over the manufacture and sale of salt and levied a tax on it. Because salt was a dietary necessity consumed by every Indian regardless of caste, religion, or wealth, Gandhi judged the salt tax to be the most regressive and morally indefensible expression of British fiscal authority, and therefore the ideal symbol around which to mobilise a mass movement. On 2 March 1930 he addressed an eleven-point ultimatum to Viceroy Lord Irwin; receiving no satisfactory reply, he set out to deliberately and publicly violate the statute. ### All-India Muslim League Historiographical debate surrounds the march's tactical wisdom and its social reach. Critics, including some contemporaries, questioned whether salt was too narrow an issue and whether the movement adequately incorporated the demands of Dalits and Muslims; the absence of broad Muslim League participation foreshadowed later communal divergence. Scholars have noted that the Congress did not raise the salt question at the First Round Table Conference, and that the Gandhi–Irwin Pact secured limited statutory concessions while leaving the salt monopoly substantially intact until independence. Nonetheless, the march's mobilisation of women, peasants, and the international press marked a turning point in the legitimacy of British rule and in Gandhi's stature as a global figure. ## Research it like a delegate Research on modeldiplomat.com ## Ask a follow-up about Dandi March 1930 Open a cited briefing in Model Diplomat search — timelines, positions, and sources you can use in committee or exam answers. [Start research on Dandi March 1930](https://modeldiplomat.com/search?q=Explain%20Dandi%20March%201930%20%E2%80%94%20key%20dates%2C%20actors%2C%20positions%2C%20and%20sources) Example On 6 April 1930, Mahatma Gandhi raised a handful of salt from the beach at Dandi, Gujarat, after a 24-day march from Sabarmati Ashram, formally breaking the British Salt Act and launching the Civil Disobedience Movement. Keep learning ## Go deeper than the definition [Explore all Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams lessons](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services)[Test yourself with a quiz](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/quiz/civil-services) ## Take Dandi March 1930 beyond the glossary Ask the AI research engine built for diplomacy — get briefings, position papers, and speeches with sources you can cite in committee.