India

Stamps issued October 2, 1980 commemorating Gandhi's"Salt Satyagraha"
also known as the "Dandi March" in protest against British salt taxes.

In 1882 Britain's colonial government passed the Salt Act limiting its handling to government salt depots and levying a salt tax. By the 1930s, the salt tax represented 8.2% of the British Raj tax revenue. After the Indian National Congress issued its Declaration of sovereignty and self-rule (Purna Swaraj, on 26 January 1930, the salt tax was the first target of its campaign of civil disobedience. Gandhi recognized the symbolic importance of the salt tax that hurt all Indians, both Moslem and Hindu, and that was a disproportionate burden on the poor. He said, "Next to air and water, salt is perhaps the greatest necessity of life." On 12 March 1930, Gandhi set out with 78 followers on his march to Dandi that ended on April 6 when he evaporated salt from seawater, breaking the law. By that time the column of his followers was three kilometres long. The protest spread widely across India resulting the jailing of 60 000 Indians.

A souvenir stamp sheet commemorating the 75th anniversary of
Gandhi's "Salt Satyagraha" issued by India on April 5, 2005.

Go to the Salty Stamps Home Page.

© Derrick Grose, 2023