bodies, boycott of government educational institutions, law courts and

foreign goods.
The civil disobedience was organized against repressive laws. Gandhi,
supported by Congress had started the agitation for reduction in land
revenue, abolition of salt tax, cutting down military expenditure and levying
duty on foreign cloth etc. But the British Government did not agree. They
thought these were ' populist' schemes to win over different sections of the
society.
Hence Civil Disobedience was launched in 1930, which is known as Salt
Satyagraha or Dandi March. Salt law was broken, Gandhi was arrested
along with his followers. It stirred the whole nation. Almost all the coastal
towns witnessed breaking salt law. Side by side, the Jungle Satyagraha
( breaking forest rules, cutting trees) started, as also no-tax campaign. The
tax levied was too high, varying from 22% to 60%. The Bardoli
Satyagraha started under the leadership of Vallabhai Patel which won him
the title of "Sardar" or "The General". The government had to bow before
popular resistance.

Non Cooperation movement

The Non-cooperation movement was a significant phase of the Indian

struggle for freedom from British rule. It was led by Mahatma Gandhi and
was supported by the Indian National Congress. After the Jallianwala
Bagh incident, Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation movement. It aimed to
resist British occupation in India through nonviolent means. Protestors
would refuse to buy British goods, adopt the use of local handicrafts, picket
liquor shops, and try to uphold the Indian values of honor and integrity. The
ideals of ahimsa and nonviolence, and Gandhi's ability to rally hundreds of
thousands of common citizens towards the cause of Indian independence,
were first seen on a large scale in this movement through the summer
1920, they feared that the movement might lead to popular nonviolence

The basic idea behind this movement was that the non cooperation of
Indians against the British government would ultimately lead to the collapse
of the British rule in India.
Before proceeding to an analysis of Gandhi's role in the Non-Cooperation
Movement, it is pertinent to delineate the circumstances that shook
Gandhi's confidence in the fairness of the British Government and
transformed him into a non-co-operator. When Gandhi returned to India in
the year 1915, he did not directly enter the political scenario, following the
advice of his political mentor Gopal Krishna Gokhle. However, in the period
between 1917 and 18, he rendered leadership to some local disputes and
thus rose to prominence. He supported the cause of the oppressed
cultivators of Champaran district ofBihar, associated himself with the
campaign of the peasants of the Kheda district in Gujarat and also backed
the textile workers of Ahmedabad, who were fighting for their wages.
During this phase, Gandhi was loyal to the colonial government and even
volunteered for the recruitment of soldiers to fight on behalf of the English,
during the First World War. However, the Gandhi's role as a co-operator of
the British government did not last long. The Rowlatt Act, followed by the
Jallianwallah Bagh massacre and the Khilafat issue embittered Gandhi's

feelings towards the British government. Gandhi stance changed to that of

a non-co-operator of the British government and he soon after launched the
Non-Cooperation Movement.
When Gandhi realized that there was no prospect of getting any fair
treatment at the hands of British, he planned to withdraw the nation's cooperation from the government and thereby mar the administrative set up
of the country. In this initiative, he expected to garner the support of the
Muslims, who were nurturing anti British sentiments, on the Turkey-issue.
Gandhi's main objective was to procure justice for the Muslims, through his
method of passive resistance; satyagraha. In August, 1920, a hartal was
organized in the entire country. The formal launch of the Non-Cooperation
Movement in the August of 1920 followed the expiry of the notice that was
sent to the Viceroy by Gandhi. He returned to the Viceroy, all the medals he
had received in recognition of his war services from the British
government.
Gandhi urged the Congress to launch a Non-Cooperation Movement on
three issues, which were; redressal of the wrongs committed in Punjab that
entailed the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the atrocities related to the
marital laws, the Khilafat wrong and accomplishment of swaraj. In
September, 1920, a special session of the Congress, presided by Lala
Lajpat Rai was convened at Calcutta that sought to approve the scheme.
Several legislations were passed by the delegates, wherein the British
government was criticized and condemned for its incapability of protecting
innocent lives in Punjab and failing to keep its promise in the Khilafat issue.
In one of the resolutions, it was declared by the Congress that the people
of India had no other option but to approve and endorse the non violent,
non-cooperation policy inaugurated by Gandhi, till the wrongs were rectified
and swaraj established. The Non-Cooperation resolution garnered mixed
responses. Pt. Motilal Nahru and Anil Ali Brothers supported the resolution,
whereas Mrs Annie Besant, Pt. Malaviya and Shri C. R Das vehemently
opposed. They feared that large scale mass action against the British
government would lead to violence on a wide scale, as occurred during
Rowlatt satyagraha.

The program and policies of the Non-Cooperation Movement that was

adopted at the special session of the Congress in Calcutta and restated at
the Nagpur session included; promotion of swadeshi and boycott of foreign
made articles, surrender of honorary posts and titles, rejection of official
Durbars, progressive rejection by lawyers of British courts, boycott of
elections appointing new Councils, refusal by clerks and soldiers to serve in
Mesopotamia and boycott of Government run and state assisted schools.
Gandhi played an active role in propagating the policies and programs of
the Non-Cooperation Movement throughout the country. He along with
other loyalists toured around the country in a bid to gather public support
and mobilize the masses in favor of the movement. Following the
persuasion of Gandhi to withdraw from state institutions and join national
schools, several students left their schools. This period also witnessed the
coming into being of numerous national educational institutions for the
benefit of the students. Noteworthy among them were Jamia Milia
University, Aligarh University and National College, Lahore.
In contradiction to the approach of non violence championed by Mahatma
Gandhi, the Non-Cooperation Movement sparked off an incident of mob
violence in Chauri Chaura in the United Provinces. A few police constables
were killed, following an attack of a police outpost on February 5th, 1922.
Disillusioned by this incident, Gandhi called for the suspension of the
movement in 1922. This sudden suspension of the movement was not
welcomed by the radical section of the Congress, like Jawaharlal
Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. Against the background of widespread
dissatisfaction that was generated by Gandhi's decision to withdraw the
movement, Motilal Nehru and Chitta Ranjan Das formed the Swaraj Party.
The motif of the Swaraj Party was to enter the Council and then destroying
the constitution from inside. Although, Gandhi initially opposed the policy of
the Swaraj Party, he later gave the Congressmen the choice to affiliate or
not with the British institutions.

It can be said without any doubt that The Non Cooperation Movement and
the role played by Gandhi in it took the Indian freedom movement to new
heights. It ushered in a new political fervor among the people and taught
the Indians fearlessness. Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi,
Swarajya found popular expression and a patriotic zeal gripped the entire
nation. The weapon of passive resistance or satyagraha, that Gandhi gave
to the nation, emerged as the greatest asset of the Indians. An important
program of The Non-Cooperation Movement was the promotion of khadi.
Under the guidance of Gandhi, charkha and Indian handloom products
gained back their glory. Many weavers were employed. The contribution of
Gandhi to this movement and eventually to Indian Nationalism was that for
the very first time he coasted the entire country bound by a single ethos.
The freedom struggle assumed an all India character under his impeccable
leadership.

Civil disobedience movement

Though the Non-Cooperation Movement failed to achive its goals, yet it
succeeded in involving millions of people in the movement against the
British Raj. After a gap of about eight years in 1930, the congress again
gave the call for a mass movement, known as the Civil Disobideince
Movements.
The developments of Indian situation since the withdrawal of NonCooperation Movement and the unchanging attitude of the British
Government to the Indian Question, prepared the ground for Civil
Disobideince Movement.
The announcement of the appointment of a Statutary Commission of seven
members under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon on 8 November, 1927
to evaluate the work of the Government of India Act, 1919 with a view to
determining the future course of constitutional reforms aroused great
political excitement in India. The Congress found, on tplea of an all white
commisssion, an oppurtunity to revive the Non-Cooperation spirit. Simon
and his team were greeted with Black flags, demonstration and shouts of

"Simon goods back" from the very day, that is, 3 rd February, 1928 on which
they arrived at Bombay. Hartals and massive demonstrations were
mounting on a large scale.
The people of orissa showed two-fold reaction to the Simon Commission.
The Congress members from Orissa shared are reaction of the Indian
National Congress. But many leading men outside the national mainstream
took it an opputunity to focus the long standing demand of the people of
Orissa for the formation of a separate province by amalgamating the oriyaspeaking tracts.
The Lahore session of the Indian National Congress, held in December
1929, marked the beginning of a new phase of freedom struggle. In the
session under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress declared
Poorna Swaraj or complete independence as its goal. 26 January 1930
was fixed as the first Independence Day and the people were asked to
celebrate with a pledge of Independence Day by declaring freedom as their
inalienable right.
The Lahore session also decided to launch a Civil Disobedience Movemnt
for the attainment of Poorna Swaraj and authorised Mahatma Gandhi to
lead it. In February the congress working Committee met at Sabarmati
Ashram and authorised Mahatma Gandhi to chalk out a programme of the
Civil Disobedience Movement.
Before launching the movement, Gandhi placed "eleven points" of
administrative reform and stated tif Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, accepted them
there would be no need of agitation.
The important demands were:
(1) The Rupee-Sterling ration should be reduced.
(2) Land Revenue should be reduced by half and made a subject of
legislative control,
(3) Salt tax should be abolished and also the Government salt monopoly,
(4) Military expenditure should be reduced by 50% to begin with,
(5) Protection of Indian textiles and coastal shipping.

(6) All political prisoners should be discharged.

The Government response to Gandhi's proposal was negative. The viceroy
gave a brief reply in which he regretted that Gandi was "contemplating a
course of action which was clearly bound to involve violation of law and
danger to the public peace." Gandhi in his rejoinder said, "On bended
knees I asked for bread and received a stone instead. The English nation
responds only to force and I am not surprised by viceregal reply."
Gandhi took the decision to start the movement. The Civil Disobideince
Movement began with the historic "Dandi March" by Gandhi. On 12 March
1930, he started from Sabarmati Ashram along with 78 Satyagrahis for
Dandi, a coastal village in Gujurat where he decided to break the salt law.
He walked nearly 200 miles and reached Dandi on 5 April.
The next morning on 6 April, 1930 Gandhi and his fellow Satayagrahis
which included Motibas Das, a Khadi student of about 20 years of age from
Balasore, prerpared salt in violation of salt law. His action was hailed by all
Indians. Jawaharlal Nehru was accompanied Gandhi to Dandi was greatly
impressed by Mahatma's exemplary courage and determination to break
the salt laws. Subhas Chandra Bose compared the Dandi March of Gandhi
to Napoleon's march to Paris from Elba.
On 9 April 1930, Gandhi gave a call for the country-wide Civil Disobedience
Movement. He declared "The British rule has brought about moral,
material, cultural and spiritual ruination of this great country. I regard this
rule as a curse.
I am out to destroy this system of Government .Sedition has become my
religion. Ours is a non-violenet battale. We are not to kill anybody, but it
was our "dharma" to see that the curse of this Government is blotted out."
He prepared a programme of mass 'Satyagraha' which included;
(1) Salt law should be violated everywhere,
(2) Student should leave college and the giov servants should resign from
services,
(3) Foreign clothes should be burnt,
(4) No tax should be paid to the Government,

(5) Women should stage a Dharna at liquor shops etc.

The choice of salt as central issue appeared puzzling initially. Events
quickly revealed the enormous potentialities of this choice. "You planned a
fine startegy round the issue of salt," Irwin later admitted to Gandhi. Salt
was a concrete and a universal grievance of the rural poor, which was
almost unique having no socially divisive implications.
Moreover the breaking of the salt law meant a rejection of the
Government's claim on the allegianciance of the people. The manufacture
of salt also became a part of Gandhian methods of constructive work like
Khadi production. Above all, Dandi march and the subsequent countrywide
violation of the salt law provided a tremendous impressive demonstration of
the power of the non-violent mass struggle.
The people responded to Gandhi's call for Civil Disobideince. Everywhere
in the country people joined hartals, demonstartions, and campaign to
boycott foreign goods and to refuse to pay taxes. Thousands of women
joined the Civil Disobedience Movement in response to Gandhi's call. The
movement also spread to North-West frontier preovince where Khan Abdul
Gaffar Khan, popularly known as "Frontier Gandhi organised a scoiety of
non-vioelnt volunteers, called "Khudai Khidmatgars" or the servants of God.
These volunteers were devoted to the cause of freedom.
The success of the Civil Disobideince Movement upset the British
Government, which as usual, resorted to severe repressive measures.
Public meetings were banned and Satyagr ahis were mercilessly lathicharged.
The congress was declared an unlawful body and restrictions were
imposed on press. Gandhi and other leaders of Congress were arrested.
But all these intensified the movemnt which remained non-violent in
character. As a follow-upon measure, Government arrested about one lakh
of Satyagrahis and sent them to jail.
The figure also included large numbers of women Satyagrahis. But, inspite
of all these repressive measures, the Government failed to supress the
movement. At lat it proposed a round table conference of Indian leaders
and spokesmen of the British Government in London to discuss Indian
problems and Simon Commission Report.

The Quit India Movement (Hindi: Bhrat Chhodo ndolan), or the India August
Movement (August Kranti), was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in
response to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's call for satyagraha. The All-India Congress
Committee proclaimed a mass protest demanding what Gandhiji called "an orderly British
withdrawal" from India. It was for the determined, which appears in his call toDo or Die, issued on 8
August at the Gowaliar Tank Maidan in Mumbai in 1942.
The British were prepared to act. Almost the entiri INC leadership, and not just at the national level,
was imprisoned without trial within hours after Gandhi's speech. Most spent the rest of the war in
prison and out of contact with the masses. The British had the support of theViceroy's Council (which
had a majority of Indians), of the Muslims, the Communist Party, the princely states, the Imperial and
state police, the Indian Army, and the Indian Civil Service. Many Indian businessmen were profiting
from heavy wartime spending and did not support Quit India. Many students paid more attention
to Subhas Chandra Bose, who was in exile and supporting the Axis. The only outside support came
from the Americans, as PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt pressured Prime Minister Winston
Churchill to give in to Indian demands. The Quit India campaign was effectively crushed. [1]
The British refused to grant immediate independence, saying it could happen only after the war
ended.

Procession view at Bengaluru

Sporadic small-scale violence took place around the country but the British arrested tens of
thousands of leaders, keeping them imprisoned until 1945. In terms of immediate objectives Quit
India failed because of heavy-handed suppression, weak coordination and the lack of a clear-cut
programme of action. However, the British government realized that India was ungovernable in the
long run, and the question for postwar became how to exit gracefully and peacefully.