CHRONOLOGY OF MAHATMA GANDHI

Chronology In Detail : In South Africa 1912-1932

• 1912 March 16 : Commends Gokhale's attempts for abolition of indenture system.
• 1912 September 12 : Phoenix Trust is set up.
• 1912 October 22 : Accompanies Gokhale, on tour of South Africa, Laurenco Marques, Mozambique and Zanzibar.
  Gives up European dress and milk and restricts himself to diet of fresh and dried fruit.
• 1913 January 18 : Refers in Indian Opinion to the possibility of return home to India by mid-year.
• 1913 March 14 : Indian marriages in South Africa invalidated by Searle's Supreme Court judgment.
• 1913 March 30 : Indians in mass meeting protest against Searle judgment.
• 1913 April 12 : In Indian Opinion draws attention to new Immigration Bill's failure to fulfill terms of Provisional Settlement of 1911. Kasturba decides to join Passive Resistance struggle.
• 1913 May 19 : Warns Government of certainty of revival of movement if it fails to grant promised relief.
• 1913 June 7 : Idea of return to India deferred in view of stringent application of discriminatory laws and likely resumption of Satyagraha.
• 1913 June 28 : Expresses readiness for negotiations.
• 1913 September 13 : Announces negotiations "proved abortive".
• 1913 September 15 : Passive Resistance is revived.
• 1913 September 16 : Kasturba is arrested.
• 1913 October 17 : Visits Newcastle; urges indentured Indians to cease work till repeal of £ 3 tax. 3000 miners strike.
• 1913 October 24 : Proposes 'March' into Transvaal.
• 1913 October 28 : 'March' from Newcastle begins.
• 1913 October 30 : Reaches Charlestown.
• 1913 November 3 : Announces 'March' into Transvaal to court arrest.
• 1913 November 5 : Telephones Smuts seeking assurance of repeal of £ 3 tax.
• 1913 November 6 : Leads ' Great March'.
• 1913 November 7 : At Volksrust, released on bail; rejoin Marchers.
• 1913 November 8 : Arrested at Standerton; released on recognizance; 'March' continues.
• 1913 November 9 : Arrested at Teakworth, taken to Balfour.
• 1913 November 10 : Takes 'one meal a day' pledge till repeal of tax.
• 1913 November 11 : Sentence, at Dundee, to 9 months' rigorous imprisonment.
• 1913 November 13 : Removed to Volksrust gaol.
• 1913 November 14 : Sentenced to 3 months on fresh count at Volksrust.
• 1913 December 18 : Released unconditionally; from time of release till settlement take only one meal a day and puts on indentured labourer's dress.
• 1914 January 13,16 : Interviews Smuts, submits proposals.
• 1914 January 22: Suspends satyagraha following agreement with Smuts.
  Fourteen days' penitential fast for moral lapse of inmates of Farm.
• 1914 June : Indian Relief Act is passed.
• 1914 July 18 : Sails for England, en route to India.
• 1914 August 4: Reaches London. Raises Indian Volunteer Corps.
• 1914 October : Volunteer Corps on duty.
  Offers satyagraha over administrative interference in corps.
• 1914 December 19 : Sails for India.
• 1915 January 9 : Reaches India.
  Awarded Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Medal for Ambulance services.
• 1915 May 20 : Founds Satyagraha Ashram (later known as Sabarmati Ashram after the name of the river) at Ahmedabad.
• 1915-16 : Tours India and Burma, travelling 3rd class on the railways.
• 1917 : Successfully agitates against indentured Indian emigration; idea of making use of spinning-wheel to produce handmade cloth on large scale takes root in his mind.
• 1917 April : Goes to Champaran (Bihar) to investigate conditions of labour in indigo plantations; arrested and later released; appointed by Bihar Government as member of committee set up to inquire into ryots' grievances.
• 1918 Jan-March : Takes up cause of textile labourers of Ahmedabad and fasts to secure amicable settlement of dispute; initiates satyagraha in Kaira District (Bombay) to secure suspension of revenue assessment on failure of crops.
• 1918 April 27 : Attends Viceroy's War Conference at Delhi and addresses it in Hindustani; subsequently tours Kaira District to raise recruits for army.
• 1919 February 28 : Signs Satyagraha Pledge to secure withdrawal of Rowlatt Bills.
• 1919 April 6 : Inaugurates all-India satyagraha movement; countrywide hartal.
• 1919 April 8-11 : Arrested on way to Delhi for refusal to comply with order not to enter Punjab; escorted back to Bombay; outbreaks of violence in several towns.
• 1919 April 13 : Jallianwala Bagh tragedy at Amritsar, troops firing on an unarmed crowd and killing over 400. Addresses public meeting near Sabarmati Ashram and declares three days' penitential fast.
• 1919 April 14 : Confesses at Nadiad his 'Himalayan miscalculation' regarding satyagraha martial law declared in Punjab.
• 1919 April 18 : Suspends satyagraha.
• 1919 September : Assumes editorship of the Gujarati monthly, Navajivan, later published weekly in Hindi also.
• 1919 October : Assumes editorship of the English weekly, Young India; joins non-official committee of inquiry into official excesses in Punjab.
• 1919 November 24 : Presides over All-India Khilafat Conference at Delhi.
• 1919 December : Advises acceptance of Montague-Chelmsford Reforms by Congress at Amritsar.
• 1920 January : Leads deputation to Viceroy to press on British Government not to deprive Sultan of Turkey (who was also Khalifa of Muslims) of his suzerainty over Holy Places of Islam.
• 1920 August 1 : Addresses letter to Viceroy surrendering Kaiser-I-Hind Medal, Zulu War Medal and Boer War Medal.
• 1929 September : Special session of Indian National Congress at Calcutta accepts his programme of non-co-operation to secure redress of Punjab and Khilafat wrongs.
• 1920 November : Founds Gujarat Vidyapith at Ahmedabad.
• 1920 December : Nagpur Congress session adopts his resolution declaring object of Congress to be attainment of Swaraj by the people of India by all legitimate and peaceful means.
• 1921 April : Launches programme of enlisting a crore of members in Congress, raising a crore of rupees for Tilak Swaraj Fund and setting up 20 lakhs of charkhas in the country in furtherance of national constructive movement.
• 1921 August : Leads campaign for complete boycott of foreign cloth and lights monster bonfire of foreign cloth in Bombay.
• 1929 December : Invested with full dictatorial powers by Congress session at Ahmedabad.
• 1922 February 1 : Gives notice to Viceroy of intention to launch satyagraha campaign in Bardoli (Gujarat).
• 1922 February 5 : Following Chauri Chaura (U.P.) tragedy, in which 21 police constables and one sub-inspector were burnt to death by a mob, fasts for five days and abandons plan of satyagraha movement.
• 1922 March 10 : Arrested for sedition at Sabarmati and sentenced (March 18) to six years' imprisonment.
• 1924 Jan-Feb : Operated on for appendicitis in Sassoon Hospital, Poona (Jan. 12) and released on Feb. 5
• 1924 April : Resumes editorship of Young India and Navajivan.
• 1924 September 18 : Begins 21 days' fast for Hindu-Muslim unity.
• 1924 December : Presides over Congress session at Belgaum.
• 1925 September : Founds All-India Spinners' Association.
• 1925 November : Seven days' vicarious fast for misdeeds of Ashram inmates.
  Commences writing his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
• 1927 November : Visits Ceylon.
• 1928 December : Moves resolution at Calcutta Congress session in favour of Independence if Dominion Status is not granted by end of 1929.
• 1929 December : At his instance Lahore Congress session declares that Swaraj in Congress creed shall mean Purna Swaraj (complete independence).
• 1930 February : Appointed by A.I.C.C. as Congress Disobedience movement.
• 1930 March 2 : Addresses letter to Viceroy intimating his intention to break Salt law if Congress demands are not conceded.
• 1930 March 12 : Commences march to Dandi sea-beach, where he ceremoniously picks up salt (April 6).
• 1930 May 5 : Arrested and imprisoned without trial; hartal all over India; over 100,000 are jailed before close of year.
• 1931 January 26 : unconditionally released from prison.
• 1931 Feb-March : Has series of talks with Viceroy resulting in Irwin-Gandhi Pact.
• 1931 August 29 : Sails for England as sole Congress delegate to Second Round Table Conference.
• 1931 Sept-Dec : Attends sessions of Conference.
• 1931 December 5 : Leaves England for India.
• 1931 December 28 : Lands in Bombay.
• 1932 January 4 : Arrested and imprisoned without trial.
• 1932 September 20 : Commences 'fast unto death' in jail to secure abolition of separate electorates for Harijans in Communal Award.
• 1932 September 26 : Breaks fast on Government of India's acceptance of his demand regarding Harijans.