ECONOMICS OF SALT PRODUCTION IN INDIA: AN ANALYSIS

Dr. B.NAGARAJA

Volume : V, Issue : XI, November - 2015

ECONOMICS OF SALT PRODUCTION IN INDIA: AN ANALYSIS

Dr. B. Nagaraja

Abstract :

<p>&nbsp;Though salt was considered as &ldquo;God&rsquo;s gift&rdquo; in ancient times and used for diplomatic purposes, in modern days it has more than 14,000 uses. India occupies the third place in the production of salt by producing 8.9 per cent of the total world production being cultivated in 1.45 lakh hectares. Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamilnadu are the top&ndash;3 states in which the yield and labour productivity were found high among the salt producing states in India. In 2013&ndash;14, 59.61 lakh MT of salt was exported which accounts for Rs.844.4 crore. Inspite of these merits, much research was not directed towards the analysis of labour utilisation, which is declining for the past 5 years, yield of the cultivated area and productivity of labour. The research so far conducted particularly threw light on the socio&ndash;economic conditions of the salt workers, the environment in which they had been working, the health problems they are prone to and designing the programmes for empowering the women salt workers. The authors have not paid sufficient attention to examine the trends in production, consumption, distribution and exports and imports of salt. Productivity analysis of salt industry also did not receive much attention of the researchers. Hence, the present paper makes a modest attempt to analyse all these trends and to provide an integrated view of the salt industry in India. The paper is concluded by offering some suggestions to improve the yield and productivity of labourers engaged in salt industry.</p>