Read the following excerpt carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Why the Salt Satyagraha?
Why was salt the symbol of protest? This is what Mahatma Gandhi wrote: The volume of information being gained daily shows how wickedly the salt tax has been designed. In order to prevent the use of salt that has not paid the tax which is at times even fourteen times its value, the Government destroys the salt it cannot sell profitably. Thus, it taxes the nation’s vital necessity: it prevents the public from manufacturing it and destroys what nature manufactures without effort. No adjective is strong enough for characterising this wicked dog-in-the-manger policy. From various sources I hear tales of such wanton destruction of the nation’s property in all parts of India. Maunds if not tons of salt are said to be destroyed on the Konkan coast. The same tale comes from Dandi. Wherever there is likelihood of natural salt being taken away by the people living in the neighbourhood of such areas for their personal use, salt officers are posted for the sole purpose of destruction. Thus, valuable national property is destroyed at national expense and salt taken out of the mouths of the people.
The salt monopoly is thus a fourfold curse. It deprives the people of a valuable easy village industry, involves wanton destruction of property that nature produces in abundance, the destruction itself means more national expenditure, and fourthly to frown this folly, an unheard-of tax of more than 1,000 per cent is extracted from a starving people.
This tax has remained so long because of the apathy of the general public. Now that is sufficiently roused, the tax has to go. How soon it will be abolished depends upon the strength of the people.
(i) Why was salt monopoly introduced by the British considered as a curse by the Indians?
(ii) How did Gandhiji illustrate his tactical wisdom with regard to salt monopoly?
(iii) Explain the significance of Gandhiji’s challenge of salt protest.
Answers
Answer:
After Bihar and Orissa, it's now West Bengal where people have resorted to panic buying of salt over rumours that it would disappear from markets. This panic buying led to its price hit an unprecedented high at Rs.100 per kg in Darjeeling. Inflation is the biggest problem in India. As per the media, every middle class person faces problems because of inflation. In November 2013, the State Government appealed to the people not to purchase salt from the black market by paying four to ten times its original price. Today such type of news makes us think of Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt March.He wrote that the tax levied on salt in India has always been a subject of criticism. Aim of this paper is to make people aware about the importance and production of salt in India,as well as think about the reasons for Gandhi’s Salt March.Introduction
Salt is one of the basic elements of our body. Without saltwe could not exist for a moment. At the fundamental level of the physical body, we are a walking, breathing, salty ocean. It is the sodium present in salt that the body requires in order to perform a variety of essential functions. Salt helps maintain the fluid in our blood cells and is used to transmit information in our nerves and muscles. It is also used in the uptake of certain nutrients from our small intestines. The body cannot make salt and so we are reliant on food to ensure that we get the required intake.
Institute of Medicine recommends people to consume half a teaspoon of salt each day to get sufficient levels of sodium for the body. Sodium is an electrolyte that helps maintain muscle function and hydration. If sodium levels are not replenished, then there is a possibility that the blood pressure will drop which could make a person feel dizzy. So salt is needed by the body in order for it to function optimally. But one thing which should be kept in mind is that you should consume salt as needed and not over eat it.
Explanation:
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