The march led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1930 from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi to make salt in defiance of the British salt law, marking the start of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
- Began on 12 March 1930 from Sabarmati Ashram (near Ahmedabad) with about 78 followers and covered roughly 240 miles (around 385 km) to Dandi on the Gujarat coast.
- Gandhi reached Dandi on 6 April 1930 and broke the salt law by making salt from seawater, an act of symbolic defiance against the British salt monopoly and tax.
- It launched the Civil Disobedience Movement nationwide, with mass breaking of salt and other laws, boycott of foreign goods, and non-payment of taxes.
- The salt was chosen because it was a daily necessity taxed by the State, making the protest intelligible and inclusive across classes.
- The movement saw the Dharasana Salt Works raid (1930) and large-scale participation by women, and led to the Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931).
The start date and route (Sabarmati to Dandi), the breaking of the salt law (6 April 1930), and its role as the trigger of Civil Disobedience are very high-frequency facts.
The Dandi March was the start of the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930), not the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920 to 1922); the two are different campaigns.
12 March to 6 April 1930: Gandhi's march from Sabarmati to Dandi to break the salt law; launched the Civil Disobedience Movement.