Q.Read the following source carefully and answer the questions that follow : (1+1+2=4) 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 characterizing 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 carrying on 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 crown this folly, an unheard of tax of more than 1,000 per cent is exacted from a starving people. This tax has remained so long because of the apathy of the general public. Now that it is sufficiently roused, the tax has to go. How soon it will be abolished depends upon the strength the people. - The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG), Vol. 49 (33.1) Why was salt law disliked by the masses ?

The salt law was universally hated because it struck at the most basic necessity of life. Salt was essential for every household, rich or poor, yet the British monopoly forced people to buy it at inflated prices — often taxed at more than 1,000 per cent of its natural value. Worse, the government actively destroyed naturally occurring salt along the coasts to prevent people from collecting it for free, posting officers solely to carry out this destruction. This meant that a resource nature provided in abundance was being wasted at public expense while the poor went without. Gandhi called it a "fourfold curse": it killed a simple village industry, destroyed natural wealth, wasted national money on enforcement, and imposed a crushing tax on the starving masses.

Salt officers were appointed to enforce the monopoly by preventing people from gathering or manufacturing salt without paying the tax. Their job was to destroy natural salt deposits wherever locals might collect them for personal use, ensuring the government's revenue stream remained intact. …

Why Salt Became the Symbol of Protest

When Gandhi chose salt for his 1930 Satyagraha, he was looking for an issue that connected the most abstract ideas of Swaraj to the daily life of the poorest Indian. Salt was that bridge. Every household, rich or poor, needed it. Yet the British had turned this abundant natural gift into a source of profit and control through a monopoly that was as cruel as it was absurd.

The Salt Law was a masterpiece of colonial exploitation. The government did not merely tax salt — it claimed ownership of all salt production, forced people to buy from official sources at inflated prices, and made it a criminal offense to collect or manufacture salt independently. The tax itself, as Gandhi pointed out, could be as high as fourteen times the value of the salt, effectively a markup exceeding 1,000 per cent. For a starving population already ground down by poverty, this was not just an economic burden but a daily humiliation.

What made the law particularly wicked was the destruction it entailed. Nature produced salt freely along India's long coastline, especially in places like the Konkan and Dandi. But wherever people might gather this free salt for personal use, the government posted salt officers whose sole job was to destroy it — maunds and tons of it, as Gandhi noted. The government would rather waste national property at public expense than allow Indians to use what nature provided without paying the tax. This "dog-in-the-manger policy," as Gandhi called it, was a fourfold curse: it killed a traditional village industry, destroyed natural abundance, wasted public money on destruction, and then taxed the people mercilessly for what remained.

Answering the Specific Questions

(33.1) Why was the salt law disliked by the masses?

The salt law was universally hated because it taxed a basic necessity of life at an exorbitant rate — more than 1,000 per cent according to Gandhi — and forced even the poorest to buy salt from government-approved sources. The law also criminalized the simple act of collecting or making salt, something communities had done freely for centuries. It touched every household, making colonial exploitation visible and personal in a way that abstract constitutional debates never could.

(33.2) Why were salt officers appointed by the British Government?

Salt officers were appointed specifically to destroy natural salt deposits along the coast and prevent local people from collecting it for personal use. Their job was enforcement of the monopoly: wherever nature produced salt freely — in places like Dandi or the Konkan coast — these officers ensured it was destroyed rather than allow Indians to bypass the tax. This prevented any loss of revenue to the colonial state and maintained the government's absolute control over salt production and sale.

(33.3) Why did Lord Irwin fail to understand the significance of the Salt March? …