(A) "Mahatma Gandhi found in salt a powerful symbol that could unite the nation." Examine the statement in context of Civil Disobedience Movement.

(i) Salt was something consumed by the rich and the poor alike.

(ii) It was one of the most essential items of food.

(iii) The tax on salt and the government monopoly over its production revealed the most oppressive face of British rule.

(iv) Irwin was unwilling to negotiate. So Mahatma Gandhi started his famous Salt March accompanied by his trusted volunteers from Sabarmati to Dandi.

(v) Thousands came to hear Mahatma Gandhi views on Satyagraha and Swaraj.

(vi) Mahatma Gandhi urged people to peacefully defy the British.

(vii) At Dandi, he along-with followers violated the law, manufactured salt by boiling sea water.

(viii) This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

(B) Examine the progress of the Civil Disobedience Movement among different strata of society.

(i) In the countryside: rich peasant communities like the patidars of Gujarat and Jats of UP were active in the movement. They were hard hit by the trade depression and found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue demand.

(ii) Poor Peasants: Many poor peasants were tenants cultivating the rented land from landlords. Depression made it difficult for them to pay the rents. They wanted the unpaid rents to the landlords to remit.

(iii) Merchants and Industralists: They opposed the colonial policies that restricted business activities. They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods and a rupee – sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports.

(iv) Industrial workers: Industrial working class did not participate enthusiastically in Nagpur. They organized movements against low wagers and poor working condition. There were strikes by railway workers and dock workers.

(v) Women: women participated in protest marches, manufactured salt and picketed foreign clothes and liquor shops. Many went to Jail.