The rising intensity of the civil disobedience movement worried the British. Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India, initiated negotiations with Gandhiji, which led to the signing of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact on 5th March in 1931 before the Second Round Table Conference in London. There were many provisions in the pact.
One of the main provisions was to stop the civil disobedience movement. Another proposal was the participation of the Indian National Congress in the Round Table Conference. The pact also stated that the British government was also ready to lift the ban on the Indian National Congress. Peaceful picketing was allowed, but picketing for the boycott of foreign goods was not to be allowed beyond a limit permitted by law.
The Congress agreed to join the Second Round Table Conference to sketch the constitutional reforms. Some of the other conditions were that the British would retract all orders imposing curbs on the activities of the Indian National Congress. They also agreed to withdraw trials except those involving violence and to release of prisoners arrested for participating in the civil dis-obedience movement. It was also agreed that the British would remove the tax on salt, and allow Indians to produce, trade and sell salt legally and for their own use.
