Read the passage and answer the question :

The volume of information being gained daily shows how wickedly the salt tax has been designed. In order to prevent the use of salt that has not paid the tax which is at times even fourteen times its value, the Government destroys the salt it cannot sell profitably. Thus it taxes the nation's vital necessity; it prevents the public from manufacturing it and destroys what nature manufactures without effort. No adjective is strong enough for characterising this wicked dog-in the-manger policy. From various sources I hear tales of such wanton destruction of the nation's property in all parts of India. Maunds if not tons of salt are said to be destroyed on the Konkan coast. The same tale comes from Dandi. Wherever there is likelihood of natural salt being taken away by the people living in the neighbourhood of such areas for their personal use, salt officers are posted for the sole purpose of carrying on destruction. Thus valuable national property is destroyed at national expense and salt taken out of the mouths of the people.

Gandhi had given an advance notice of his "Salt March" to __________.

Lord Irwin

The correct answer is Option (3) → Lord Irwin

Although Gandhiji had given advance notice of his “Salt March” to the Viceroy Lord Irwin, Irwin failed to grasp the significance of the action. On 12 March 1930, Gandhiji began walking from his ashram at Sabarmati towards the ocean. He reached his destination three weeks later, making a fistful of salt as he did and thereby making himself a criminal in the eyes of the law. Meanwhile, parallel salt marches were being conducted in other parts of the country.

The reason Gandhi had given an advance notice of his "Salt March" to Lord Irwin (option 3) is because Lord Irwin was the Viceroy of India at the time, serving as the highest-ranking British official in India. Gandhi wanted to make his protest and civil disobedience campaign, which included the Salt March, a peaceful and nonviolent demonstration against British salt laws and taxes.

By providing advance notice to Lord Irwin, he aimed to convey his intentions, promote a nonviolent approach, and give the British authorities an opportunity to respond or take preventive measure if they wished. This was a strategic and principled step in Gandhi's approach to civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance.