Salt Workers, India

Palani Mohan

Black Star / TIME Magazine

Salt Workers- India Salt has always played a very important part in the history of India and the struggle still continues. As the monsoon abates and marsh waters drain into the Arabian Sea, India's Little Rann of Kutch in eastern Gujarat state is transformed into a vast, featureless plain, home to tens of thousands of migratory salt workers who carry on a tradition of generations. They pump subterranean water onto the salt pan and many months later they harvest the crystals. They work in temperatures that soar as high as 50 degrees for a handful of rupees, often as bonded labourers ñ a form of slavery. The harvest was also documented in southern India, where conditions are just as harsh and the work is still back-breaking. Slightly built men heave 115 kilo sacks of salt crystals onto their backs and dump them on waiting trucks bound for refineries in town.

Palani Mohan, "Salt Workers, India," in POYi Archive, Item #32570, http://archive.poy.org/items/show/32570 (accessed November 21, 2024).