Civil Disobedience Movement: Salt March to Gandhi-Irwin Pact

TOPIC CLASSIFICATION

Subject: Indian History - Struggle for Independence (1919-1947)
Sub-topic: Civil Disobedience Movement - Dandi March, Salt Satyagraha, Round Table Conferences, Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Mass Mobilisation, Women's Participation
Mains GS Paper-I: Indian National Movement - phases (1929-1931), Gandhian methods, mass movements.

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EXAMINER REASONING

The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) is Mahatma Gandhi's most iconic mass movement - it broke the salt laws, mobilised millions, and shook the British Empire. Prelims tests: date of Dandi March (March 12, 1930 to April 6, 1930), distance (241 miles / 388 km), participants (78 followers), the salt law, Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March 1931), Karachi Resolution. Mains demands: (a) why salt - the symbolic and strategic choice of salt as the issue, (b) the stages - Dandi March → Salt Satyagraha → civil disobedience in other forms (forest laws, chowkidari tax, no-revenue), (c) the breadth of participation - women (Sarojini Naidu, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay), peasants, students, (d) Round Table Conferences - the 3 conferences and Gandhi's participation in the 2nd, (e) Gandhi-Irwin Pact - terms, criticism, (f) the Karachi Resolution (1931) - Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy. The examiner's favourite framing is: "Was the Civil Disobedience Movement a success or a compromise?"

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