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NCERT Solutions Curiosity Chapter 9 –168Sabarmati Ashram, and where common salt comes from — In-text Questions

Book page 167 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
What is Sabarmati Ashram famous for? Draw a poster showing Dandi March and discuss why it was organised.
Answer

Sabarmati Ashram, on the bank of the river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, was Mahatma Gandhi’s home from 1917 to 1930. It is famous as the place from which he led much of India’s freedom struggle, and from where the Dandi March began.

FactDetail
Started on12 March 1930, from Sabarmati Ashram
Ended atDandi, on the sea coast of Gujarat, on 6 April 1930
Distance walkedAbout 385 km, on foot, in 24 days
Started withGandhiji and 78 companions; thousands joined on the way
What he did at DandiPicked up a lump of natural salt from the shore, breaking the salt law

Why it was organised: the British government had made it illegal for Indians to make or collect their own salt, and had put a tax on the salt everyone had to buy. Salt is used by every household in the country, rich or poor, so the tax hurt the poorest most. Gandhiji chose salt deliberately — it turned a simple, everyday need into a symbol of an unjust rule. Breaking the salt law was non-violent civil disobedience, and it made the freedom movement a truly mass movement.

Sample answer — what to put on your poster: a long line of marchers with Gandhiji in front, walking stick in hand; the map of Gujarat with the route Sabarmati → Dandi; the sea and salt pans at the bottom; and the words “Namak Satyagrah, 12 March – 6 April 1930”. In one corner draw a heap of salt with the caption “Salt belongs to the people of India.”
The link with this chapter: the salt Gandhiji lifted at Dandi had been made by nature using a method from this very chapter — evaporation of seawater in the sun.
Q2.
Where is namak (common salt) obtained from?
Answer

From seawater — and also from salt lakes and from rock-salt mines.

Seawater is a mixture: several salts and other substances are dissolved in water. Salt is separated from it like this:

Seawater is let into wide, shallow pits near the coast.
Sun and wind make the water evaporate.
In a few days the water is gone and a solid mixture of salts is left in the pit.
This is purified further to give the common salt we eat.
Why the pits are shallow and wide: evaporation happens at the surface. A wide, shallow pit gives a large surface and a thin layer of water, so the sun heats it quickly and it dries in days rather than months.
Did you know? India is one of the world’s largest producers of salt. The salt pans of Kharaghoda and the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai’s coast supply much of it. The workers who make it are called agariyas.
Q3.
Find out about some water bodies in India that contain common salt. One such source is Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan.
Answer

Besides the sea, several inland lakes in India are salty. Water flows into them but has no river flowing out, so it can leave only by evaporating — and the salt it carried in stays behind and keeps building up.

Water bodyStateNote
Sambhar LakeRajasthanIndia’s largest inland salt lake; salt has been made here for centuries
Pachpadra and Didwana lakesRajasthanOld salt-producing lakes of the Thar region
Lonar LakeMaharashtraSalty crater lake formed by a meteorite impact
Pangong Tso and Tso MoririLadakhHigh-altitude salt-water lakes
Chilika LakeOdishaA brackish lagoon joined to the Bay of Bengal
Rann of KutchGujaratA vast salt marsh that dries into a white salt desert
Why a lake turns salty: rainwater running over rocks and soil dissolves tiny amounts of salts and carries them into the lake. Water leaves the lake as vapour, but the salt cannot become vapour — so with every dry season the lake gets a little saltier.
Try This: Mark these places on an outline map of India. You will notice that most of them lie in dry regions, where evaporation is fast and rainfall is low.
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