Gandhian Era and the Road to Independence (1915–1947)

Gandhi's early experiments

Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915. His first satyagrahas in India:

• Champaran (1917): indigo farmers (tinkathia system), Bihar.
• Ahmedabad mill strike (1918): first hunger strike.
• Kheda (1918): peasants' revenue remission, Gujarat (with Sardar Patel).

Mass movements

Movement	Year	Key points
Rowlatt Satyagraha	1919	Against the Rowlatt Act; Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919)
Non-Cooperation & Khilafat	1920–22	Boycott of schools, courts, foreign cloth; withdrawn after Chauri Chaura (Feb 1922)
Civil Disobedience	1930–34	Began with the Dandi March (12 March – 6 April 1930) to break the salt law
Quit India	1942	"Do or Die"; launched at Gowalia Tank, Bombay (8 August 1942)

Other milestones

• Simon Commission (1927): all-white; boycotted with "Simon Go Back".
• Lahore Session (1929) under Jawaharlal Nehru: Purna Swaraj resolution; 26 January 1930 celebrated as Independence Day.
• Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931) and Second Round Table Conference (Gandhi attended).
• Poona Pact (1932) between Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar on depressed-class representation.
• Government of India Act, 1935: provincial autonomy.
• Cripps Mission (1942), INA under Subhas Chandra Bose, Cabinet Mission (1946).
• Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947) → Indian Independence Act, 1947 → Independence on 15 August 1947.

Prelims tips

1. Pair each movement with its trigger and its end.
2. 1929 Lahore = Purna Swaraj; 26 January was later chosen as Republic Day.

Analogy

Gandhi's movements worked like waves on a beach. Each wave (Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience, Quit India) surged forward, then pulled back — a pause Gandhi used to regroup — but every new wave reached further up the shore, until the British position was washed away in 1947.