The Satyagraha was a campaign of nonviolent protest against the British salt tax in colonial India which began with the Salt March to Dandi on March 12, 1930. It was the first act of organized opposition to British rule after Purna Swaraj, the declaration of independence by the Indian National Congress. Mahatma Gandhi led the Dandi march from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, Gujarat to produce salt without paying the tax, with growing numbers of Indians joining him along the way. When Gandhi broke the salt laws in Dandi at the conclusion of the march on April 6, 1930, it sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the British Raj salt laws by millions of Indians.[1]

via Salt Satyagraha – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

I was having a heated discussion with a coworker about how salt isn’t biological, but is a mineral, and that it can’t go bad like milk does (and I quote “you can eat your old salt, I want new salt”) (and yes she really said that) and I looked salt up on wikipedia and ran into that little bit above.  Apparently salt was a pivotal component of India’s independence from foreign rule.