Arrival of Gandhi
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Birth: 2 October 1869, at Porbander in princely state of Kathiawar
His father was a diwan of the state.
1893: Went to South Africa for his client Dada Abdullah
His first opposition came, when he was thrown out of 1st class
compartment of a train.
Fought for the cause of indentured Indian laborer in SA suffering
from white racism.
He first started his Satyagrah or passive resistance in SA.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Making of Gandhi
● The South African Experiment
○ Witnessed the ugly face of white racism & the humiliation
and contempt to which Asians were subjected.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Making of Gandhi
○ The Indians in South Africa consisted of three categories:
■ Indentured Indian labor from South India, who migrated
to South Africa after 1890 to work on sugar plantations;
■ the merchants—mostly Memon Muslims who had
followed the labourers;
■ the ex-indentured labourers who had settled down in
South Africa after the expiry of their contracts.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Moderate Phase of Struggle (1894-1906)
○ Relied on sending petitions & memorials to the authorities in
South Africa & in Britain.
○ Hoping they would take sincere steps to redress their
grievances as the Indians British subjects.
○ To unite different sections of Indians, he set up the Natal
Indian Congress and started a paper Indian Opinion.
○ Gandhiji’s abilities as an organizer, as a fund-raiser, as a
journalist & as a propagandist, all came to the fore during
this period.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Phase of Passive Resistance (1906-14)
● Use of the method of passive resistance or civil disobedience,
which Gandhi named Satyagraha.
○ Satyagraha against Registration Certificates (1906)
○ Campaign against Restrictions on Indian Migration
○ Campaign against Poll Tax & Invalidation of Indian
Marriages.
○ Protest against Transvaal Immigration Act
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Satyagraha against Registration Certificates -1906
○ A new legislation in South Africa made it compulsory for
Indians there to carry at all times certificates of registration
with their fingerprints.
○ Indians organised a meeting on 11 September 1906, in the
Empire Theatre in Johannesburg under Gandhi's leadership &
decided not to submit to this discriminatory measure.
○ Gandhi formed the Passive Resistance Association to conduct
the campaign of defying the law & suffering all the penalties
resulting from such a defiance.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
○ The Government jailed Gandhi (King Edward’s Hotel) & others
who refused to register themselves.
○ Thus was born satyagraha or devotion to truth, the technique
of resisting adversaries without violence.
○ General Smuts called Gandhiji for talks, & promised to
withdraw the legislation if Indians voluntarily agreed to
register themselves.
○ Gandhiji accepted & was the first to register.
○ But Smuts had played a trick; he ordered that the voluntary
registrations be ratified under the law.
○ The Indians under the leadership of Gandhi retaliated by
publicly burning their registration certificates.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
● Campaign against Restrictions on Indian Migration
○ The earlier campaign was widened to include protest against
a new legislation imposing restrictions on Indian migration.
○ Indians defied this law by crossing over from one province to
another and by refusing to produce licences.
○ Many of these Indians were jailed.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Setting up of Tolstoy Farm
As it became rather difficult to sustain the high pitch of the struggle,
Gandhi decided to devote all his attention to the struggle.
The funds for supporting the families of the Satyagrahis & for running
Indian Opinion were fast running out.
Gandhiji’s own legal practice had virtually ceased since 1906, the year
he had started devoting all his attention to the struggle.
At this point, Gandhiji set up Tolstoy Farm, made possible through the
generosity of his German architect friend, Kallenbach, to house the
families of the Satyagrahis & give them a way to sustain themselves.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Continued….
This Farm was the precursor of the later Gandhian ashrams that
were to play so important a role in the Indian national movement.
Funds also came from India — Sir Ratan Tata sent Rs. 25,000 &
the Congress & the League, as well as the Nizam, made their
contributions.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
● Campaign against Poll Tax
○ Poll tax of 3 pounds was imposed on all ex-indentured
Indians
○ The inclusion of demands for the abolition of poll tax (which
was too much for the poor ex-indentured Indians who
earned less than 10 shillings a month) in the ongoing
struggle further widened the base of the campaign.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
● Campaign against Invalidation of Indian Marriages
○ Supreme Court order which invalidated all marriages not
conducted according to Christian rites & registered by the
registrar of marriages drew the anger of the Indians & others
who were not Christians.
○ By implication, Hindu, Muslim & Parsi marriages were illegal
and children born out of such marriages, illegitimate.
○ The Indians treated this judgement as an insult to the
honour of women & many women were drawn into the
movement because of this indignity.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
● Protest against Transvaal Immigration Act
○ Indians protested by illegally migrating from Natal into
Transvaal.
○ The campaign was launched by the illegal crossing of the
border by a group of 16 Satyagrahis, including Kasturba,
who marched from Phoenix Settlement in Natal to Transvaal,
& were immediately arrested.
○ Government held these Indians in jails.
○ Miners and plantation workers went on a lightning strike.
○ In India, Gokhale toured the whole country mobilising public
opinion in support of the Indians in South Africa.
○ Even the viceroy, Lord Hardinge, condemned the repression
& called for an impartial enquiry
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Compromise Solution
○ A series of negotiations involving
○ Gandhi,
○ Lord Hardinge,
○ C.F. Andrews
&
○ General Smuts
○ An agreement was reached by which Government of South
Africa conceded the major Indian demands relating to the
poll tax, the registration certificates & marriages
solemnized according to Indian rites promised to treat the
issue of Indian immigration in a sympathetic manner.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Important Events
1893: Gandhi arrives in South Africa to provide legal support.
1894: The Natal Indian Congress is founded
1896: Gandhi is attacked by a mob after his ship, the SS Courtland,
docks in Durban when he returns to South Africa with his family after
a home visit
1899: Gandhi organises the Indian Ambulance Corps to serve the
British in the South African War (Second Anglo-Boer)
1900: The Indian Ambulance Corps assists at the Battle of Spioenkop
1903: Gandhi founds the weekly Indian Opinion
1904: The Phoenix Settlement is established
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Important Events
1909: Gandhi publishes the book Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule)
1910: Tolstoy Farm is established outside Johannesburg
1914: Gandhi & Smuts reach an agreement to relax certain
restrictions on Indians in return for ending the satyagraha
campaign. Gandhi & Kasturba leave South Africa for good
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Gandhi’s Experience in South Africa
● Gandhi found that the masses had immense capacity to
participate in & sacrifice for a cause that moved them.
● He was able to unite Indians belonging to different religions &
classes, & men and women alike under his leadership.
● He also came to realise that at times the leaders have to take
decisions unpopular with their enthusiastic supporters.
● He was able to evolve his own style of leadership & politics &
new techniques of struggle on a limited scale, untrammelled by
the opposition of contending political currents.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Principles of Satyagraha
Identify Truth (Relative Truth or Absolute Truth)
Insist on truth
Fight using non-violence
Change the mind & heart of opponents through self-suffering
Make God a witness of your deeds
Be fearless
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Technique of Satyagraha
● Based on truth and non-violence.
● Basic Tenets:
○ A satyagrahi was not to submit to what he considered as
wrong, but was to always remain truthful, non-violent &
fearless.
○ A satyagrahi works on the principles of withdrawal of
cooperation & boycott.
○ Methods of satyagraha include non-payment of taxes &
declining honors & positions of authority.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
● A satyagrahi should be ready to accept suffering in his struggle against
the wrongdoer. This suffering was to be a part of his love for truth.
● Even while carrying out his struggle against the wrongdoer, a true
satyagrahi would have no ill feeling for the wrongdoer; hatred would be
alien to his nature.
● A true satyagrahi would never bow before the evil, whatever the
consequence.
● Only the brave & strong could practise satyagraha; it was not for the
weak & cowardly.
● Even violence was preferred to cowardice. Thought was never to be
separated from practice. In other words, ends could not justify the
means.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Gandhi in India
● Returned to India on 9th January 1915.
● His efforts in South Africa were well known not only among the
educated but also among the masses.
● He decided to tour the country the next 1 year & see for himself
the condition of the masses.
● He also decided not to take any position on any political matter
for at least one year.
● As for the political currents prevalent at that time in India, he was
convinced about the limitations of moderate politics & was also
not in favor of Home Rule agitation which was becoming popular
at that time.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
● He thought that it was not the best time to agitate for Home Rule
when Britain was in the middle of a war.
● He was convinced that the only technique capable of meeting the
nationalist aims was a non-violent satyagraha.
● He also said that he would join no political organisation unless it too
accepted the creed of non-violent satyagraha.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Champaran Satyagraha: 1st Civil
Disobedience
● Requested by Rajkumar Shukla to look into the problems of the
farmers in context of indigo planters of Champaran.
● European planters had been forcing the peasants to grow indigo
on 3/20 part of the total land (called tinkathia system).
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Champaran Satyagraha: 1st Civil
Disobedience
● When towards the end of the 19th century German synthetic dyes
replaced indigo, the European planters demanded high rents &
illegal dues from the peasants in order to maximise their profits
before the peasants could shift to other crops.
● Also, the peasants were forced to sell the produce at prices fixed
by the Europeans.
● Indigo Cultivation was destroying the productivity of the land
which was the main reason of the peasant’s protest.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
● When the authorities ordered him to leave, Gandhi defied the order &
preferred to face the punishment.
● Gandhi was arrested but then later released by the magistrate.
● This passive resistance of an unjust order was a novel method at that
time
● The government appointed a committee (Indigo commission) to go into
the matter & nominated Gandhi as a member.
● Gandhi was able to convince the authorities that tinkathia should be
abolished & that the peasants should be compensated for the illegal
dues extracted from them.
● As a compromise with the planters, he agreed that only 25 % of the
money taken should be compensated.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Gandhi’s comrades–
Rajendra Prasad,
Mazhar-ul-Haq,
Narahari Parekh,
JB Kriplani
Mahadev Desai,
Brajkishore Prasad,
Anugrah Narayan Sinha,
Ramnavmi Prasad
Shambhu Sharan Varma.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Ahmedabad Mill Strike -
1st Hunger Strike
● Unlike Champaran, in this case both the workers & employers
were Indians.
● Gandhi intervened in a dispute between cotton mill owners of
Ahmedabad & the workers over the issue of discontinuation of
the plague bonus.
● The workers were demanding a rise of 50 % in their wages so
that they could manage in the times of wartime inflation (WWI).
● The mill owners were ready to give only a 20 % wage hike.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Ahmedabad Mill Strike -
1st Hunger Strike
● Gandhi asked the workers to go on a strike & demand a 35 %
increase in wages instead of 50 %.
● This was the 1st strike called by Gandhi in India.
● Gandhi advised the workers to remain non-violent while on
strike.
● When negotiations with mill owners did not progress, he himself
undertook a fast unto death (his 1st)to strengthen the workers’
resolve.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
The fast also had the effect of putting pressure on the mill owners
who finally agreed to submit the issue to a tribunal. The strike was
withdrawn.
Industrialist referred the issue to a tribunal which awarded 35%
wage hike to the workers.
Ambalal Sarabhai’s sister, Anasuya Behn, was one of the main
lieutenants of Gandhiji in this struggle in which her brother was one
of the main adversaries.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Kheda Satyagraha
The crops failed in Kheda district
According to Revenue Code of British Government law, if the yield
was less than 1/4th the normal produce, the farmers were entitled
to remission.
The government threatened that the property of the farmers
would be seized if the taxes were not paid.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Kheda Satyagraha
● Gandhi asked the farmers not to pay the taxes.
● Gandhiji was mainly the spiritual head of the struggle.
● It was Sardar Patel & a group of other devoted Gandhians -
Narahari Parikh, Mohanlal Pandya & Ravi Shankar Vyas, who went
around the villages, organised the villagers & guided them &
gave the necessary political leadership.
● Patel along with his colleagues organised the tax revolt which the
different ethnic & caste communities of Kheda supported.
● He left his lucrative practice at the Bar at this time to help Gandhi
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Indulal Yagnik became Gandhi follower.
Ultimately, the government agreed to
suspend the tax for the year in question, & for the next;
reduce the increase in rate;
&
return all the confiscated property
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Rowlatt Act 1919
Government on one hand gave carrot of constitutional reforms in form of
GoI Act 1919, on the other hand armed itself with extraordinary powers
to suppress the violators
Also known as Anarchical & Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919
Rowlatt committee was a Sedition Committee appointed in 1918 by the
British Indian Government with Sir Sidney Rowlatt, an English judge, as
its president.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Rowlatt Act 1919
It was a legislative act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council
in Delhi, indefinitely extending the emergency measures of
preventive indefinite detention, incarceration without trial &
judicial review enacted in the Defence of India Act 1915 during the
1st World War.
To investigate the ‘seditious conspiracy’ of the Indian people.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Rowlatt Act (1919) Continued….
According to this act any Indian could be arrested on the charge of sedition even
on suspicious ground & without any trail could be jailed for up to 2 years. Thus
suspended right of “habeas corpus” which is foundation of the civil liberty
The act allowed political activists to be tried without juries or even
imprisoned without trial.
It allowed arrest of Indians without warrant on the mere suspicion of ‘treason’.
Police had immense power which could be easily misused as the clause of
suspicious grounds was not specified correctly.
Slogan of the movement was “No appeal, no daleel, no wakeel”
Jinnah, Madan Mohan Malaviya & Mazhar Ul Haq – resigned in protest.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Satyagraha Against the Rowlatt Act—1st Mass Strike
● He called the Rowlatt Act the “Black Act” & argued that not everyone
should get punishment in response to isolated political crimes.
● Having seen the constitutional protest fail Gandhi organized a
Satyagraha Sabha Sarvadharma Prarthana Sabha (prayer meeting
for all religions) & roped in younger members of Home Rule Leagues
& the Pan Islamists.
● The forms of protest finally chosen included observance of a
nationwide hartal accompanied by fasting & prayer, & civil
disobedience against specific laws, & courting arrest & imprisonment.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
6 April 1919 was the 1st All India Strike Day.
Before April 6 itself mass scale resistance grew against British
rule , there were large-scale violent, anti-British demonstrations
in Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, Ahmedabad, etc.
In Punjab, the situation became so very explosive due to wartime
repression, forcible recruitments and ravages of diseases. So
Army was called which put martial law there.
The Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, Sir Michael O’Dwyer, is said
to have used aircraft strafing against the violent protests.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
Park in Amritsar
There was a curfew imposed in Amritsar on 13
April but people from rural area had no
knowledge about it.
13 April was celebrated as Baisakhi &
peasants had come to celebrate at Jallianwala.
Incidentally a group of protestors protesting
the arrest of 2 leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew
& Dr. Satypal Malik had also come to the
same place.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
General Dyer entered the place and ordered his
men to fire at the crowd killing 379 people
(according to government records).
Media & local people said that number of people
killed were more than 1000.
Hunter Commission was setup to look into the
event.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
● Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest when
House of Lords called this act by Gen Dyer as act of bravery
● Gandhi gave up the title of Kaiser-i-Hind, bestowed by the
British for his work during the Boer War.
● Gandhi was overwhelmed by the atmosphere of total violence &
withdrew the movement on April 18,1919.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Hunter Commission
The Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu, ordered that a committee of
inquiry to be formed to investigate this matter.
Hunter Committee/Commission was formed, Lord William Hunter as its chairman &
having 3 Indians among the members, namely, Sir Chimanlal Harilal Setalvad,
Pandit Jagat Narayan, & Sardar Sahibzada Sultan Ahmad Khan.
The Commission on the Punjab atrocities proved to be an eyewash.
In fact, House of Lords endorsed General Dyer's action & the British public showed
solidarity with Dyer by helping The Morning Post collect 30k pounds for him. A
famous contributor to the fund was Rudyard Kipling.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Hunter Commission Continued….
Hunter Commission did not impose any penal or disciplinary action
because Dyer's actions were condoned by various superiors (later upheld
by the Army Council).
The Legal & Home Members on the Viceroy's Council ultimately decided
that, though Dyer had acted in a callous & brutal way, military or legal
prosecution would not be possible due to political reasons.
He was finally found guilty of a mistaken notion of duty & relieved of his
command.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
● The honouring of Dyer by the priests of Sri Darbar Sahib,
Amritsar resulted in the launch of the Gurdwara Reform
movement.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Congress’ Position
● Appointed its own non-official committee that included Motilal
Nehru, C.R. Das, Abbas Tyabji, M.R. Jayakar & Gandhi.
● Congress criticized Dyer’s act as inhuman & also said that there
was no justification in the introduction of the martial law in
Punjab.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Assassination of Michael O'Dwyer
13 March 1940: At Caxton Hall in London, Udham Singh, who had
witnessed the events in Amritsar & was himself wounded, shot &
killed Michael O'Dwyer, the British Lieutenant- Governor of Punjab
at the time of the massacre, who had approved Dyer's action &
was believed to be the main planner.
Udham Singh, bore the name, Ram Mohammad Singh Azad.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Continued….
1927: Dyer had died.
31 July 1940 : Udham Singh was hanged.
At that time, many, including Nehru & Gandhi, condemned the
action as senseless even if it was courageous.
1952: Nehru honored Udham Singh.
Soon after this recognition, Singh received the title of Shaheed.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Montagu's Statement-August 1917
“The government policy is of an increasing participation of Indians in
every branch of administration & gradual development institutions
with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government
in India as an integral part of the British empire”
From now onwards, the demand by nationalists for self-government or
Home Rule could not be termed as seditious since, attainment of self
government for Indians now became a government policy, unlike
Morley's statement in 1909 that the reforms were not intended to give
self-government to India.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Indian Objections
The objections of the Indian leaders to Montagu's statement were
2 fold:
No specific time frame was given.
The Government alone was to decide the nature & the
timing of advance towards a responsible government, & the
Indians were resentful that the British would decide what
was good & what was bad for Indians.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Government of India Act 1919
Based on Montagu – Chelmsford Reforms in line with Montague’s
August 1917 statement
As the British Government needed India’s help in terms of both
resources & manpower for WW-1, they promised the Indian
leaders that more number of members will be included in the
Executive council.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Provisions
Relaxation of central control over provinces:
By demarcating & separating the central & provincial subjects. The central
& provincial legislatures were authorised to make laws on their respective
list of subjects. However, the structure of government continued to be
centralised and unitary.
Bicameral Legislature at the Centre:
The Indian Legislative Council was replaced by a bicameral legislature
consisting of an Upper House (Council of State) & a Lower House
(Legislative Assembly).
The majority of members of both the Houses were chosen by direct
election.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Provisions Continued….
Legislative assembly & Council of state to consist of 145 & 60
members.
Separate Electorates also given to Sikhs, Anglo-Indians, Indian
Christians, & Europeans.
Legislators could ask questions & supplementaries, pass
adjournment motions & vote a part of the budget, but 75% of the
budget was still not votable.
Dyarchy was introduced in the province , i.e., there were two
classes of administrators – Executive councillors & Ministers.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Dyarchy
Dyarchy (rule of 2) in the province.
Term derived from the Greek word ‘di-arche’ which means double
rule. This experiment was largely unsuccessful.
Popular ministers & governors to be executive head
Reserved & transferred subjects.
Reserved subjects, were to be administered by the governor & his
executive council without being responsible to the legislative
Council.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Dyarchy
The transferred subjects were to be administered by the governor
with the aid of ministers responsible to the legislative Council.
Reserved subjects such as finance, Law & order , land revenue,
irrigation, etc.
Transferred subjects such as health, education, industry, local
government.
Governor could veto the bill & issue ordinances
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Provisions Continued….
Women were given right to vote
Indian legislature made more representative
It required that the 3 of the 6 members of the Viceroy’s executive
Council (other than the commander-in-chief) were to be Indian.
It created a new office of the High Commissioner for India in
London & transferred to him some of the functions hitherto
performed by the Secretary of State for India.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Provisions Continued….
It provided for the establishment of a public service commission.
Hence, a Central Public Service Commission was set up in 1926 for
recruiting civil servants
It separated, for the 1st time, provincial budgets from the Central
budget & authorised the provincial legislatures to enact their
budgets.
It provided for the appointment of a statutory commission to
inquire into & report on its working after 10 years of its coming
into force.
Modern History: Module XIV: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement