Non-Cooperation & Civil Disobedience — Set 14

Correct Answer: D. Both telegraph and cinema newsreels

The Salt March attracted unprecedented international media coverage through telegraph dispatches to newspapers worldwide and cinema newsreel footage. The image of elderly Gandhi and his followers marching to the sea was powerful visual theatre. Webb Miller's reports, transmitted by telegraph, shocked the world, while newsreel footage was shown in cinemas internationally.

Correct Answer: C. Reduction of land revenue and no-tax campaigns

The Civil Disobedience Movement incorporated the peasant demand for reduction of land revenue through no-tax campaigns in various regions. Peasants were asked to refuse to pay enhanced land revenue to the British government. This linkage between the urban nationalist movement and rural peasant grievances broadened the social base of the CDM.

Correct Answer: B. Swaraj Party entered councils; communal tensions rose; Simon Commission boycott

After the suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922, the Swaraj Party entered legislative councils to obstruct British governance from within. Communal tensions rose significantly in the mid-1920s after the Khilafat Movement collapsed. The period ended with the Simon Commission boycott in 1928 and the Lahore Congress resolution of December 1929 that set the stage for the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Correct Answer: B. March 23, 1931

Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were executed on March 23, 1931. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed on March 5, 1931. Gandhi did make private representations to Lord Irwin for commutation of the death sentences but Irwin refused. The execution shortly after the pact was signed generated enormous public anger at the British and controversy about Gandhi's negotiating position.

Correct Answer: B. No taxation without representation — Indians must participate in decisions about India's constitution

The Congress boycott of the Simon Commission was based on the principle that Indians must have the right to participate in decisions about India's constitutional future. The absence of any Indian members on a commission to review India's constitution was a fundamental denial of this principle. The Congress demanded that Indians draft their own constitution, leading to the Nehru Report of 1928.

Correct Answer: B. 25 villages in Gujarat

Gandhi's Dandi March passed through approximately 48 villages in Gujarat as it covered the 241-mile route from Sabarmati to Dandi. Gandhi held meetings in many villages along the way, explaining the purpose of the march. The route was carefully planned to build maximum support and allow people to join.

Correct Answer: B. A handful of natural salt left by the sea

At Dandi on April 6, 1930, Gandhi picked up a small lump of natural salt left on the shore by the sea — simple, natural salt that had not been processed through the British government's monopoly system. This deliberately simple act of picking up 'free' salt violated the government's monopoly on salt. The symbolism was powerful: salt belonged to the earth, not to the British Empire.

Correct Answer: B. Direct person-to-person dialogue treating Irwin as an equal

Gandhi's negotiating style with Lord Irwin was characterised by direct, respectful dialogue treating the Viceroy as a moral equal and fellow human being. Gandhi addressed Irwin as 'Dear Friend' and appealed to his conscience. This approach was part of Gandhi's satyagraha philosophy — engaging the opponent's moral sense rather than treating negotiation as a power struggle.

Correct Answer: B. Pingali Venkayya

Pingali Venkayya, an agriculturist and freedom fighter from Andhra Pradesh, is credited with designing the Indian National Congress flag with the charkha (spinning wheel) in 1921. The flag had saffron, white, and green stripes. When India became independent, the charkha was replaced by the Ashoka Chakra on the national flag.

Correct Answer: B. May 4, 1930

Gandhi was arrested on May 4–5, 1930, at his camp at Karadi near Dandi, nearly a month after he broke the salt law at Dandi on April 6. By the time of his arrest, the Civil Disobedience Movement had spread across India and could no longer be contained. Gandhi's arrest sparked widespread protests and the Dharasana Salt Works raid led by Sarojini Naidu.