23. Read the passage that follows and answer the questions. Salt Law was imposed by the British government in 1882. According to this law, the collection or production of salt by anyone without the permission of the colonial authorities was declared unlawful. Besides, a tax was also imposed on salt which affected the common people. Mahatma Gandhi started the civil disobedience movement in 1929-30 by launching a symbolic campaign against salt law. On 12 March 1930, he marched with his 78, followers from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi in Gujarat. After reaching Dandi on 6 April 1930, he picked up a handful of salt and thus broke the salt law. 23.1. Who imposed the salt law? 23.2.Name the movement started by Mahatma Gandhi against the Salt Law. followers from Sabarmati 23.3. Mahatma Gandhi started with Ashram. 23.4. What does the law states?
Answers
Answer:
Taxation of salt has occurred in India since the earliest times. However, this tax was greatly increased when the British East India Company began to establish its rule over provinces in India. In 1835, special taxes were imposed on Indian salt to facilitate its import. This paid huge dividends for the traders of the British East India Company. When the Crown took over the administration of India from the Company in 1858, the taxes were not replaced.
The stringent salt taxes imposed by the British were vehemently condemned by the Indian public. In 1885, at the first session of the Indian National Congress in Bombay, a prominent Congress Leader, S.A.Swaminatha Iyer raised the issue of the salt tax.[1] There were further protests throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries culminating in Mahatma Gandhi's Salt Satyagraha in 1930. This satyagraha was followed by other satyagrahas in other parts of the country.
After the arrest of Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu led the satyagrahis to Dharasana Salt works in Gujarat and was arrested by the police officers. C. Rajagopalachari broke the Salt Laws at Vedaranyam, in Madras Province in the same year. Thousands courted arrest and were imprisoned in large numbers. The administration eventually relented and invited Mahatma Gandhi to England to attend the Second Round Table Conference. Gandhi's Dandi March got wide news coverage and proved to be a turning point in the history of India's independence movement.
The salt tax, however, continued to remain in effect and was repealed only when Jawaharlal Nehru became the prime minister of the interim government in 1946, but later re-introduced via the Salt Cess Act, 1953.[2]