When the salt turns brown: Freak rains batter livelihoods in India’s Little Rann of Kutch : Aishwarya Mohanty

The Migration Story: Surendranagar: Monday, 27 April 2026.
From unseasonal rains to cyclones and dust storms, more and more unpredictable weather patterns spell doom for Little Rann of Kutch's ancient salt trade -- and family legacies

Santabhai Bamaniya shows two different qualities of salt in his hands in the Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. Aishwarya Mohanty/The Migration Story

Every year, Santabhai Bamaniya returns to the shimmering salt flats of Gujarat’s Little Rann of Kutch, pitching his seasonal hut and betting on clear skies for a strong harvest to feed his family.
But increasingly erratic weather is upending the trade in India’s salt heartland, leaving makers like him fearful for its future
“The best quality salt is so white that you cannot look at it straight for a long time, your eyes will hurt. It shines, it almost radiates light,” said Bamaniya, an Agariya, a term that refers to small-scale traditional salt makers of Gujarat state.
“But look at the salt now, it’s all brown. You can see the difference clearly,” said the 66-year-old as he bent down to gather a fistful of coarse crystals from his field and showed the brownish tinge in his salt, suggesting traces of sand and clay.
This is what most salt farms in Little Rann of Kutch look like this season due to unseasonal rain and strong winds that hit just ahead of harvest in March. The storms churned up the fragile surface of the pans, mixing sand into the crystallising salt.
But Agariyas say this is not the first time unpredictable monsoons have disrupted their harvest, and they fear it will not be the last.
They say that despite severe losses from increasing strong winds, unseasonal rains and flooding in the area, there are no compensation mechanisms in place for them.
India faces some of the fastest-rising threats from climate change, environmentalists say, with increases in blistering heat, powerful cyclones, drought and flooding.
More unpredictable weather can threaten harvests and food security, especially in developing nations such as India, they say.
“(Gujarat) is more familiar with excruciating spells of heat and little known for any dust storm or thunderstorm, especially in March–April,” AVM GP Sharma, president of private weather forecasting agency Skymet said in a note in late March, rightly predicting that the state would see “another round of freak weather” in early April.
Last May, the Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute (CSMCRI), a government research body on the production and utilisation of salt, recommended the government to study and compensate for the Agariyas’ losses. Yet nearly a year later, there has been no relief.
MORE CHANGING WEATHER
India is the world’s third largest salt producing country after China and the United States, with Gujarat contributing nearly 90% to the total salt production in the country, government data shows.
The Little Rann of Kutch, spread over an area of more than 5,000 sq km – about three times the size of Delhi – is a triangular desert in Gujarat where more than 40,000 Agariya families contribute to 31% of the total salt produced in the state, according to government data.
The produced salt is processed for human consumption, and also as raw material for other products, like caustic soda, fertilisers, and paints.
The Agariyas sell their salt directly to industrial traders and local salt factories who visit the desert. From these traders, the salt is then distributed to manufacturers for table salt, soap, detergent, and various chemical industries across India.
Each farm roughly 10 acres and up to a kilometre apart, is carved out of the desert – flattened, channelled, and prepared for crystallisation.
Eight out of 12 months, Bamaniya lives in Rann with his son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren in their makeshift home built with bamboo and tarpaulin – one room, a hall and a small kitchen, all for it to be dismantled by the end of April.

Santabhai Bamaniya stands on a heap of salt crystals ready to be sold in the Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. Aishwarya Mohanty/The Migration Story

“Every year there is a cyclonic storm. Sometimes there are just strong winds. In either case the salt gets damaged,” Bamaniya said.
The Arabian sea has historically witnessed fewer storms than India’s eastern Bay of Bengal coast, but that pattern has changed in the last three decades, and more so recently.
A 2018 study by the National Disaster Management Authority also suggested an increase in both intensity and frequency of cyclones along the western coast, citing global warming. The Little Rann of Kutch lies 200 kms east of the Arabian sea coast.
“I do not remember such changing weather conditions when I started working at the salt pan with my father. Facilities were limited, but we were still sure about what the weather would be like, which made us confident of the product,” said Bamaniya, who has spent nearly five decades working at the salt pan.
“Now there are alerts on our phones about cyclones and rain, but there is little we can do about it. We cannot store the salt anywhere to protect it. Either we start again if it’s in the early days of production, or we sell it at a minimum price as the quality goes down.”
COLOUR IS CURRENCY
The region witnesses inundation during monsoon, converting into a wetland.
Each September, the sea retreats and the seasonal rivers dry up, marking the start of the salt manufacturing period that lasts until March or April the following year.
The whitest salt fetches the highest price of up to 500 rupees per tonne. Once discoloured, that value can drop to 300 rupees, or even less, depending on the trader, salt makers say.
Bamaniya keeps a small bottle of the pure good quality salt to mark the difference.
“This is like our benchmark for the best quality. Any variation from this is bad quality,” his son Maheshbhai Bamaniya said, showing off the starkly white salt crystals they have saved.
The best quality is called grade 1 salt, sold at the highest price, then there are grades 2 and 3, which are decided based on how much the trader who buys the salt will have to work on processing it.
“We do not get to decide the price. There is no standard benchmark to decide the quality of salt. The traders who buy the salt from us decide the price. We are yet to sell it, but those who have started selling it are selling it for not more than 400 rupees a tonne,” the son added.
The Agariyas say a 10-acre salt farm can produce roughly between 700 and 1,000 tonnes of salt, or enough to fill about 40 standard shipping containers. But flooding, cyclones and unseasonal rains can drop the production to 500-600 tonnes.
“This year we were hoping that nearly 70% of our produce would go as grade 1 salt, fetching us the best price, but now there is no grade 1 salt left. All the produce will be sold at the minimum price,” Maheshbhai said.
SOLAR
A kilometer from the Bamaniya hut, 39-year-old Vashiram Dedwaniya passes a new casualty: shattered solar panels strewn across his 10-acre farm.
He had saved up for three years to buy them last November for 1.2 lakh rupees. But fierce desert winds in March this year, wrecked his salt harvest and panels beyond repair.

Vashiram Dedwaniya stands with his wind-damaged solar panels in the Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. Aishwarya Mohanty/The Migration Story

Like Dedwaniya, most Rann farmers rely on government-subsidised solar panels to pump water. He had secured two at a discount and added more to slash diesel costs.
“I manage to make 4 to 4.5 lakh rupees a year by selling salt. After all expenditures including transportation, housing, and others, I manage to save around 2 lakh rupees. Using solar panels has helped us reduce costs more and make better profits. I have to start saving again to replace these panels now,” he said.
When The Migration Story visited the Little Rann of Kutch in early April, the salt makers said a survey was underway to assess the damages by the strong winds.
But later, a committee member said it lasted two days before stalling ahead of Gujarat’s local elections this month.

Locals look at wind-damaged solar panels in the Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. Aishwarya Mohanty/The Migration Story

The poor quality of salt and impending price drop worries Dedwaniya, who tries to make ends meet as a daily wage labourer in nearby towns and cities during the four months he is not in the Rann.
DAM PROBLEM
Cyclones are not the only threat. Excess rains overwhelm regional dams like Narmada and Machhu, prompting authorities to release water through canals near salt pans – a recurring blow, makers say.
“Rain, excess water from dams, all of it is fresh water. If it mixes with the saline water in our pans, the degree of salinity reduces. We have to start the process again,” Dedwaniya said.
Pankti Jog, state coordinator of Agaria Heet Rakshak Manch, an organisation that works with the Agariya salt makers, notes floods from overflowing dams hit Little Rann salt pans in 2014, 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2025. Yet losses go unassessed and uncompensated.
“It was only in 2024 that we were informed that there is no criteria to map the losses, which was informed by a collector and that is why even if there are funds, there is no mechanism in place to disburse them adequately and properly,” she added.
Despite the scale of losses, salt workers in Gujarat remain outside formal compensation frameworks.
India’s Ministry of Commerce & Industry oversees salt production, under which the Salt Commissioner’s Organization handles regulation, development, and distribution.
Salt production is classified as a mining activity, but in practice it resembles agriculture.
“Like farmers, Agariyas depend on land, weather, and seasonal cycles. They prepare fields, manage inputs, and harvest produce. But unlike farmers, they do not own the land. Nor are they recognised as cultivators,” Jog said.
After any natural calamities, the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) rolls out relief measures, but salt workers are not a part of them.
The GSDMA did not respond to requests for comment.
MEASURING WHAT IS LOST
In 2025, the CSMCRI called for an assessment of the loss.
“Agariyas are traditional salt makers, which means these salt making activities are a lifetime activity they undertake for their livelihood. They aren’t businessmen,” Jignesh Shukla, a senior technical officer at CSIR-CSMCRI, told The Migration Story.
“In case of any natural calamities that impacts them directly, they should be compensated,” he added.
CSMCRI proposes a framework to calculate salt losses: average output per acre over the past five to seven years at market rates. Plus, accounting for by-products like bittern, which is used in fertilisers and seasonings, and capital investments like solar panels, pumps, and tractors.
It also recommends including a “man-days” framework, calculating salt makers’ work done over eight months, starting from relocating to the Rann, building shelters, installing pumps, and digging wells to preparing crystallisers, and daily raking operations that can last up to 120 days.
For a typical 10-acre farm, all of this can amount to hundreds of “man-days”.

Salt makers harvest salt crystals using a hand-made trolley in the Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. Aishwarya Mohanty/The Migration Story

Shukla said the lack of a standard operating procedure for compensation was a “major roadblock”.
“We made the suggestions since we were asked to and submitted it to the government. But there has not been any update on it yet. The government has to review it and then decide,” he added.
Until then, the salt makers wait in anticipation.
“My land was surveyed too … Nothing happened. There was no compensation,” said Bamaniya.
“Maybe something will happen this time. There’s always a little hope, just not enough to rely on.”
(Edited by Annie Banerji: Aishwarya Mohanty is Special Correspondent with The Migration Story.)

Salt of suffering : Suchak Patel

Frontline: Ahmedabad: 16^th October 2025.
In Gujarat’s Little Rann of Kutch, Agaria salt farmers toil under the desert sun, eight months a year, with no homes, water, or basic ameneties.

Salt workers harvesting salt crystals under the scorching sun of
May, with temperatures touching 45 degrees Celsius.
Photo Credit: SUCHAK PATEL

A French folktale tells the story of a princess who told her father, “I love you like salt.” The king, thinking she had insulted him, banished her. But when he was denied salt, the king understood its true value. Today, like that king, we, too, are oblivious to the true worth of salt and the struggles of those who make it: the Agaria community of salt farmers in Gujarat’s Little Rann of Kutch. A report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Gujarat Assembly tabled on September 10, 2025, throws light on their plight and shows that 78 years after Independence they still lack clean water, proper housing, education, and healthcare.
At a civic function in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in October 2022, President Droupadi Murmu said Gujarat produced 76 per cent of the country’s salt and added in a lighter vein that it could be said that “the salt produced in the State is consumed by all Indians”.
For eight months each year, from October to June, the Agaria migrate with their families to the desolate Rann, living in makeshift huts without roads, electricity, water, and other amenities. Their lives revolve around salt: drawing brine from wells, filling shallow pans, and waiting under the burning sun until crystals form. Entire families, including women and children, live in isolation, surrounded by nothing but salt-pans and the desert horizon. It is a life of extreme heat, loneliness, and hard labour, where generations have poured their sweat into the salt that gives flavour to our food.
This invisible struggle came into focus recently through the singer Aditya Gadhvi’s hit song “Meetha Khara”. Released on September 9, 2025, the song has already crossed five million views. The haunting lyrics give voice to the Agaria’s life experience: “I let my bones melt so [that] no plate is left without salt. While the world savours thirty-two flavours, salt is the only taste I know.” More than just a song, it is testimony to how generations of salt workers have given their lives so that ours may taste better. Yet, the hardships of the Agarias remain largely unknown.
Makeshift homes under a burning desert sun
The Irish novelist George Augustus Moore once wrote: “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” But for thousands of Agaria salt workers, home is a fragile hut in the middle of the Little Rann of Kutch for eight months in a year. Built from bamboo, plastic sheets, and cloth, these shelters, often far from their own villages, offer little protection from the scorching heat, biting cold, or strong desert winds.
Perhaps nothing captures their situation better than the song “Zero BHK Bungalow” by Charul and Vinay:
“Zero BHK bungalow, my 9 feet by 9 feet bungalow
Zero BHK bungalow, my 9 feet by 9 feet bungalow
Neither 3-star, nor 5-star, not even a 7-star bungalow
In the middle of the night if you look up, it’s a million-star bungalow
A bungalow without roof, a bungalow looking up at the sky.”
The PAC report noted that in 2014 the State-Level Empowered Committee (SLEC) promised to provide proper accommodation for salt workers. Yet, an audit by the Accountant General in 2019 found that no such scheme was ever launched. Between 2014 and 2018, Rs.128 crore was allocated for the welfare of the Agarias; Rs.34 crore of this amount remained unused. But though the rest of the amount was spent, not a single housing-related project was taken up, the Comproller and Auditor General (CAG) report pointed out.

Over 76 per cent of the country’s salt is produced
in Gujarat, as President Droupadi Murmu observed
a few years ago. Here, an Agaria salt-pan worker
displaying salt crystals harvested in the
Little Rann of Kutch.|Photo Credit: Ajit Solanki/AP

Expressing strong displeasure, the PAC criticised the government for ignoring repeated audit observations. It recommended that the Agaria salt farmers be given permanent housing at their work sites or, if that was not possible, durable weather-resistant tents as an alternative. It also suggested that salt lease orders must include mandatory provisions for accommodation facilities, coordinated by the departments concerned.
Gaps in childcare
A report in 2014, by the Justice M.B. Shah Commission appointed by the Gujarat government, highlighted severe gaps in childcare among the Agaria community in Gujarat’s desert regions. Hundreds of children under 6 lack access to nutritional support due to the absence of anganwadi centres. The report noted that critical services under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health check-ups, referral services, preschool education, and nutrition and health education are largely unavailable to Agaria families, leaving children and mothers at high risk of malnutrition.
The 2020 CAG report corroborated these concerns, noting that between 2014 and 2019, not a single proposal was submitted to the SLEC for extension of ICDS coverage to salt worker families. While most village clusters were included under ICDS, desert areas in Patan, Amreli, Surendranagar, and Kutch were largely left out. Of these districts, only Patan provided weekly take-home rations via special vans.
The Women and Child Development Department failed to implement repeated directions from the District-Level Empowered Committee between 2016 and 2018 to start mobile anganwadis, leaving children and mothers underserved.
The PAC report notes that the department received administrative approval in 2020 to set up 15 tent-based “Rann Anganwadis” for migrant families. Out of these, 7 are currently functional, serving 116 beneficiaries from September/October to June: they provide hot milk, breakfast, lunch, and take-home rations. The committee has recommended that mobile anganwadis, as many as possible, be established with adequate staffing and budget allocation to ensure that all services under the ICDS reach Agaria children and mothers.
Health in general is a cause for concern. Work sites of salt workers lack medical facilities, and the PAC has called for better health services. The health department told the committee that 12 mobile health units (MHUs) were operating to serve the community, but the PAC recommended that all 16 districts with large Agaria populations should have at least 1 MHU each. It also urged that community health centres, primary health centres, and sub-centres in these areas be properly staffed and stocked with medicines and equipment. Additionally, the committee suggested that salt lease agreements mandate lessees to provide medical facilities, group insurance, and regular vaccinations for the workers.

Makeshift huts that house Agaria families in the
desert for eight months of the year. | Photo Credit
:SUCHAK PATEL

However, Pankti Jog, State coordinator of the non-profit Agaria Heet-Rakshak Manch, said that health was being viewed through a very narrow lens. According to her, the challenges faced by the Agaria community, especially its women, are too big to be addressed adequately through mobile health vans. Across India, Accredited Social Health Activists provide support, but no such facility exists for the nearly 5,000 Agaria women in the Little Rann of Kutch during the salt-making season. The Agaria workers are structurally excluded from the coverage of flagship schemes like the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the National Rural Health Mission, Jog added.
Sanitation and health remain areas of concern
CAG reports have also flagged serious gaps in sanitation, health, and welfare provisions for salt workers. An audit of the standard salt lease terms prescribed by the Industries and Mines Department in October 2010 revealed that lease holders are not required to provide medical aid, first aid, or group medical insurance to workers. There is also no mandatory provision for inoculation of workers and their families against cholera, plague, or smallpox.
Sanitation remains a critical issue. None of the 17 salt units in Bhavnagar and 9 units in Kutch visited during joint audits in 2019 had toilet facilities, leaving workers, especially women, without privacy or basic hygiene. The audit noted that neither the Industries and Mines Department nor the Panchayat and Rural Development Department took the initiative to make sanitation mandatory in lease agreements, leaving the responsibility entirely unassigned.
Issue of safe drinking water
The PAC has also urged the State government to ensure safe and adequate drinking water for the Agaria community. The CAG, in Report No. 3 of 2020, flagged district-wise failures in providing water to salt workers despite repeated allocations and proposals.

The Agaria make do with scarcely any amenities
during their long stay in the desert when they
harvest salt. Here, a portable LPG cylinder that
is used to make tea. | Photo Credit: SUCHAK PATEL

In Surendranagar, the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB) failed to provide safe drinking water to salt workers due to poor planning and lack of coordination. In 2016, the GWSSB proposed sharing costs for supply through water tankers, but the SLEC rejected it, insisting on a permanent budget plan. Neither the GWSSB nor the SLEC followed up, and no water supply scheme was implemented by 2019. The water scarcity persists, and thousands of Agaria workers are still left without access to clean water in the district.
In Kutch, the Vira-Sanghad Water Supply Scheme, launched in 2007 at a cost of Rs.99.39 lakh to serve 4,000 salt workers, largely failed. Despite additional work on the project between 2012 and 2018 at a cost of Rs.72.11 lakh, the scheme delivered only 59 lakh litres of water against a requirement of 3.95 crore litres. Salt workers in Sanghad and nearby areas continue to rely on wells with high salinity for drinking water.
Bhavna Harchandani, a social anthropologist whose doctoral thesis explored the lives of the Agaria community, said: “Since the time of Sanat Mehta as Finance Minister in the 1990s, there have been plans to provide water to the Agaria. But these plans were never materialised, and the Agaria still depend on water tankers and other temporary alternatives.”
Jog said: “Every year, the district administration arranges tenders for water tankers. The problem is that large tankers cannot enter the desert at the start of the season because of waterlogging from the monsoon. This forces the Agaria to use contaminated water.”
She added that her organisation keeps demanding that the administration include provisions for small tankers in the tenders and ensure water supply so that each family receives water at least once a week. Currently, many families get water only once in 20 days.
Economic and physical exploitation
The report of the Justice M.B. Shah Commission highlighted the economic and physical exploitation faced by salt workers: “The economic and physical exploitations by moneylenders and traders make their condition worse. The indebtedness and market practices have converted Agaria from primary producers to wage labourers.”

Agaria women carrying wood for fuel in the
Little Rann of Kutch, a file photograph. Basic
amenities remain largely unavailable to
Gujarat’s salt-pan workers. | Photo Credit:
PRAKASH HATVALNE/AP

The CAG’s 2020 report made similar observations and noted the absence of efforts to improve the economic condition of salt workers. It found that the Agaria salt farmers do not have access to formal credit to meet salt production expenses and depend on private moneylenders/traders for finance, rations, crude oil, and water supply. They end up losing bargaining power in deciding the cost of salt produced and do not make any profit at the end of the season. They receive only 1 to 2 per cent of the market price of the salt they produce, while the rest is taken away by the traders.
The availability of highly subsidised solar pumps has improved the economic situation of the community to some extent, research by this writer showed. The PAC report also observed that these pumps led to savings of Rs.1.5 to Rs.2 lakh in diesel expenses in a season for an average Agaria family.
No access to formal credit, no assurance of fair pricing
Many other economic challenges remain, particularly relating to access to formal credit and fair pricing for salt. The PAC recommended that salt farmers be provided access to financial credit from nationalised banks and government financial institutions to cover the cost of salt production and said farmers should receive a fair price for the salt they produce.
Harchandani said: “In farming, there is the concept of minimum support price. But despite salt being an essential commodity, salt farmers do not get the benefit of MSP or any similar system to ensure reliable income. They also lack access to formal credit, forcing them to depend heavily on moneylenders.”
Jog said: “The Agaria salt workers are not covered under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana, a crop insurance scheme. They are also not covered by the NDRF [National Disaster Response Force] and SDRF [State Disaster Response Force] guidelines, leaving them vulnerable to natural calamities.” She said there should be comprehensive insurance coverage and compensation facility to help the Agaria community cope with such disasters.
Mahatma Gandhi saw salt as more than just a mineral. It was a symbol of self-reliance, equality, and resistance against colonial rule. In the same vein, photographs of polling booths in remote areas regularly pop up in the media come election time, showcasing the reach of democracy into the far corners of the country. Yet, as B.R. Ambedkar noted, economic and social democracy is just as important as political democracy, and for many, it has yet to arrive.
(Suchak Patelis an independent writer and researcher based in Ahmedabad. He focusses on government policy, environmental issues, land conflicts, and infrastructure.)

Drinking water to roads to housing, what PAC report recommended for Gujarat salt-pan workers spotlighted by latest Coke Studio song : Written by Parimal A Dabhi

The Indian Express: Ahmedabad: Friday, 19 September 2025.
In its report submitted before the Assembly last week, the Public Accounts Committee said an extensive survey should be carried out among Gujarat's salt-pan workers within the next two months during which the facilities available or lacking to the community be listed

Two years after it made waves with the “Khalasi” number, highlighting the life of a sailor on Gujarat shores, the latest Coke Studio Bharat song by Aditya Gadhvi has put a spotlight over another unsung heroes of the state the salt-pan workers or Agariya.
Titled Meetha Khara (sweet and salty), the release of the song, which also features Madhubanti Bagchi and Thanu Khan, comes close on the heels of the advent of the salt-cultivation season that kicks off in September, around Navratri.
The community also found mention in the recently concluded Monsoon Session with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Gujarat Assembly making several recommendations to the state government for their welfare.
In its most salient recommendation, the PAC has recommended that the Gujarat government should carry out an extensive survey within two months and list the facilities available to salt-pan workers and those that the salt-cultivating districts of Gujarat lack.
The committee made the recommendations in its fifth report which was tabled and accepted in the state assembly last week.
The PAC is headed by former minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Bhavnagar West constituency Jitendra Vaghani. The report, with reference to findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s report of 2018-19 on the issues related to salt-pan workers in the state, was tabled before the Assembly on September 10.
With reference to the queries of the Committee, in its written reply, the Industries and Mines Department had stated that it has given instructions to district industry centres (DIC) to carry out coordinated survey and to prepare a central database in cooperation with the departments concerned through District-Level Empowered Committee (DLEC). In response, the PAC has recommended that the department carries out an extensive survey for salt-pan workers in salt-cultivating districts. The findings must be submitted in two months, the PAC recommended, adding that matters coming to the fore during the survey should be swiftly acted upon.
The population of salt-pan workers in Gujarat is spread over 16 districts of the state, which include the coastal districts and inland districts of Banaskantha, Patan and Surendranagar. As per Agariya Heet-Rakshak Manch, a leading organisation working for the empowerment of salt-pan workers, the population of Agariyas in Gujarat is estimated at around 85,000.
In its report, the PAC has also made several other recommendations on issues concerning the salt-pan workers such as financial management, drinking water supply, road facility, facility of residence and facilities related to health and education etc.
On financial management, the Committee has recommended to ensure that 100% funds allocated for the welfare of salt-pan workers is utilised through minute planning. The recommendation came in the wake of CAG’s finding that between 2014-15 and 2017-18, grant of around Rs 35 crore meant for various welfare schemes for salt-pan workers remained unused for different reasons.
Availability of drinking water
The PAC also inquired about a note in the CAG report related to availability of drinking water in salt-pan areas. It posed a query to a representative of Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB) as to what percentage of salt-pan areas were yet to be provided water. In reply, the GSWWB representative informed the committee that they did not have that data, adding that the board has made efforts in that direction following which some schemes could be activated.
The committee recommended that uninterrupted supply of drinking water should be ensured in areas having significant presence of salt-pan workers.
The CAG had probed into the dilapidated condition of roads in salt pan areas of Bhavnagar, Amreli and Kutch district leading to impact on health facilities being provided to salt-pan workers. Inquiring into CAG’s findings and taking “serious” note of a response from the representative of Roads & Buildings department that the work on roads leading to salt pans in Bhavnagar district will be carried out soon, the PAC recommended to build quality roads leading to salt pans and its periodic maintenance.
Matter of residence
Taking note of “adverse” and “harsh” climate in salt pans and expressing concerns for the Agariyas’ residence, the Committee has recommended to ensure that the salt-pan workers are provided “steady” residence at their work place and if it is not possible, then tents, which are durable and strong against harsh weather, should be made available. It also recommended to ensure that there should be a condition in orders of giving salt pans on lease to salt units that the salt-pan workers be provided proper residence at the salt-pan-on-lease itself.
On the health front, the PAC recommended to ensure that there is at least one Mobile Health Unit in each of the 16 districts of the state having a population of salt-pan workers. Also, to allay malnutrition in women salt-pan workers and their children, the committee recommended to have as many mobile Rann Anganwadis as possible with necessary staff.
For the education of children of salt-pan workers, the Committee recommended to widen the prevalence of the experimental scheme, School on Wheels. It also recommended establishing computer laboratories in schools of Surendranagar, Bhavnagar, Kutch and Amreli districts, where it is not functional, at the earliest.
Improving financial state
To improve the financial condition of the salt-pan workers, the PAC has recommended to ensure that they get finance on credit from nationalised banks or government financial institutions expeditiously and that they get a fair price for their cultivated salt.
Welcoming the recommendations of the PAC, President of Agariya Heet-Rakshak Manch, Harinesh Pandya said, “The recommendations are very important. The salt-cultivation process is very dynamic. The number of people indulging in salt-cultivation changes in every season and so do their requirements. So, the government should develop a mechanism for its constant planning, monitoring and budget allocation as a continuous process. They should carry out the survey either in March-April or in September-October. The season starts around September after Navratri and ends around May.”
Minister of State for Salt Industries (Independent Charge) Jagdish Vishwakarma could not be reached for his comments.

Gujarat salt producers left out of disaster relief norms despite major economic role, AHRM raises concert

 Counterview: Ahmedabad: Monday, 15 September 2025.

The Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat has reportedly witnessed major losses after continuous rains for over 10 days, leading to large salt stockpiles being washed away. Reports from Santalpur suggest that around 300 salt producers (agariyas) and more than one lakh tonnes of stored salt have been submerged or damaged by floodwaters, resulting in losses worth crores of rupees.
The region has been badly affected as water entered storage yards and salt pans. Large heaps of harvested salt dissolved in rainwater, leaving producers in despair.
“This is not the first time,” local salt workers are quoted as saying. They point out that monsoon and untimely rains often damage stored salt. However, no permanent measures or compensation frameworks are in place to protect small producers from recurring losses.
Despite repeated appeals, agariyas claim they have not received any financial assistance. “Nearly 300 salt farmers have lost their entire season’s hard work, but no government support has reached us,” said one salt worker.
As the salt heaps continue to dissolve under floodwater, Santalpur’s salt workers face an uncertain future, struggling to recover from what they describe as one of the worst setbacks in recent years.
Meanwhile, the Agariya Heet Rakshak Manch (AHRM) has raised concern that while there are established guidelines for compensating losses in agriculture, livestock, and homes during natural calamities, no such provisions cover salt producers. Whether during monsoon or unseasonal rains, salt farmers face huge damages to their pans without any relief framework from the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) or the Relief Commissioner of the Revenue Department.
Salt is not classified as a mineral to be mined but is cultivated through a process similar to agriculture, yet it is placed under the jurisdiction of the mining department. India produces on average around 300 lakh tonnes of salt annually, of which Gujarat contributes 75 to 80 percent, with yearly production ranging between 200 and 240 lakh tonnes. From 2018–19 to 2022–23, Gujarat’s share in national production steadily rose to about 77 percent. On the export front too, India has emerged as a major player, with export values rising from ₹1,958 crore in 2018–19 to ₹5,350 crore in 2022–23, and Gujarat alone accounts for more than 90 percent of this trade.
Despite this scale of production and contribution to the economy, salt farmers remain excluded from disaster relief policies. AHRM, a registered trust working for the development and empowerment of the Agariya community, has underlined this gap. The Manch, founded by the late Dr. Vasant Parikh and later led by Gandhian worker Arvindbhai Acharya, works with nearly 10,000 Agariya families in the Little Rann of Kutch and coastal areas. These families, who depend entirely on salt production for survival, often lose their season’s work to heavy rains and flooding but receive no compensation. Over the years, AHRM has consistently highlighted how salt workers remain outside the scope of welfare schemes and relief measures due to lack of land rights, administrative gaps, and neglect in policy frameworks.
According to the Manch, this exclusion leaves salt farmers among the most vulnerable communities in Gujarat despite their central role in sustaining the state’s and the country’s dominance in salt production and exports. “The salt industry contributes massively to the national economy, but when disaster strikes, salt farmers are invisible in the eyes of the system,” AHRM has said, calling for clear guidelines and relief norms to address the recurring losses faced by producers.

Life is 'better after solar': Harnessing sunlight gives India's salt farmers freedom and profit : Salimah Shivji

CBC News: World: Thursday, June 5, 2025.
Initiative fits into country’s push to invest heavily in renewable energy

Devabhai Sawadiya's life as a salt farmer in the Kutch district
 of India's western Gujarat state has dramatically changed with
the use of solar panels to power pumps in the marshes. 
(Salimah Shivji/CBC)

Under a punishing midday sun, Devabhai Sawadiya slowly rakes the salt pan that has been in his family for generations. It's quiet around him, except for the sweeping motions of his salt broom and the soft, clinking sound of dishes being washed nearby.
That's a new development. For years, there used to be loud, sputtering diesel machines running constantly to pump out the salty brine stuck underground, which the farmers then spread out into the square fields to evaporate and produce salt crystals.
Now, it's solar panels that dot the vast arid desert, powering the pumps.
The switch to harnessing the power of the many hours of sunlight that shine on the Kutch district of India's western Gujarat state has dramatically changed Sawadiya's life.
"We finally make a profit because of solar, after years of toiling," the 59-year-old farmer told CBC News.
"Before [we got] solar panels, there was barely enough money to eat and not a rupee more."

Sawadiya holds salt harvested from the marshes.
 (Salimah Shivji/CBC)

The nomadic salt farmers, called Agariyas, migrate from their villages across the state of Gujarat to the Little Rann of Kutch desert each fall as soon as the monsoon rains recede and camp out in rickety tarpaulin tents near the salt marshes for the eight-month harvesting season.

Jassiben Sawadiya washes pots while grandson Kushti
 plays near the salt pan. (Salimah Shivji/CBC)

They don't own the marshland they have been working for generations to make the salt that India, the third-largest salt producer in the world, needs.

It's government land that they return to every year to help produce around 30 per cent of India's salt found inland, which is mostly table salt.
WATCH | Solar power changing lives for salt farmers in India:

Until they received help to buy the solar panels and install them beside their salt pans, the farmers would start each season in debt, forced to borrow heavily from salt traders so they could buy the 15 or so barrels of diesel that their old pumps required.
The borrowed costs could go up to 300,000 Indian rupees, or nearly $5,000 Cdn, a season.
"We would return with bags full of salt, but were left with nothing not enough money," Sawadiya said.
Problems with diesel
The constant smoke and toxins from the diesel made them "sick and caused so many problems," he added. His hands were also frequently stained black from having to fiddle with the machines.
Sawadiya's two solar panels now have a prime position next to the family's tent, where his young grandson, Kushti, is playing. There is still one diesel pump that is only used as a backup at night or when it's cloudy.

Sawadiya stands near an old diesel machine. 
(Salimah Shivji/CBC)

"It's a relief for us that the smoke has stopped," said Sawadiya's wife, Jassiben Sawadiya.
"Life has gotten better after solar."
The family was able to build a new house in their village and pay for their son's wedding because of the several thousands of dollars they're now saving each year without the need to buy diesel fuel.
There's freedom because "we don't have to borrow money from anyone else," Jassiben Sawadiya said.
Hefty government subsidy
Most of the nearly 5,000 Agariya families who work in the salt desert have taken advantage of a large subsidy from both the Gujarat state and federal governments that covered 80 per cent of the cost of one solar panel.
The initiative fits neatly into India's push to invest heavily in renewable energy, while slowly trying to wean the country of its dependence on coal.
The South Asian country still depends on coal the dirtiest of fossil fuels for more than 70 per cent of the power it generates.

India's salt farmers, or Agariyas, move to the desert for
months to harvest the salt. (Salimah Shivji/CBC)

Officials have also been quick to argue that India, as a developing country, is well within its rights to keep authorizing coal-fired power plants to open, even as it also prioritizes clean energy.
Still, India's solar energy sector is growing quickly, with installed solar capacity now higher than 108 gigawatts, according to the government's press bureau. It sat at less than three gigawatts a decade ago.
'The output is very good'
The country is also focused on building large-scale solar farms, clusters of millions of panels in rows and columns that produce clean power.
"With solar, the farmers' expenses are close to zero and the output is very good," said Bharatbhai Somera, who has volunteered for years with local NGO Agariya Heet-Rakshak Manch, which advocates for the salt farming community.
He grew up in an Agariya family in the salt desert and watched his father work constantly for little gain.

Social worker Bharatbhai Somera says farmers' expenses
 are 'close to zero' with solar. (Salimah Shivji/CBC)

The solar panels in the Little Rann of Kutch, and the money they now save, allow the farmers to extend the harvesting season, which means the salt they produce is better quality because it has more time to crystallize.
Moving to renewable energy has also repaired community bonds.
"With diesel, the farmers had to constantly keep an eye on the machine 24 hours a day," Somera said. If there was a family function, the Agariyas would have to skip it.
"Now solar works on its own and they can go see their family and attend weddings."
Subsidy impact remains
But even though the benefits were obvious to Somera and his colleagues, he said it took numerous demonstrations and a lot of convincing to "let the idea sink in" with government officials before the subsidy was approved.
It lasted for five years, but the subsidy is no longer being offered, even though the massive impact it had remains.

Pankti Jog, program director for the community organization
Agariya Heet-Rakshak Manch, says salt farmers would benefit
from assistance in case their solar panels break down.
(Salimah Shivji/CBC)

"The entire loop of exploitation and poverty which has been going on for generations, [the Agariyas] can break it in two to three years," said Pankti Jog, who is a program director with Agariya Heet-Rakshak Manch.
She said most of the families now have at least one solar panel, but with the subsidy gone, a system of assistance for insurance, in case the panel breaks down or gets worn out, would help most of the farmers.
Life in isolation
Life in the vast arid desert surrounded by salt marshes is still very difficult, with an acute sense of isolation.
There are no medical clinics or family doctors and children go to school in abandoned buses, with their motors removed, parked haphazardly in the middle of the sunburnt landscape.
On one spring afternoon, a dozen children packed into one of the buses, sitting at small desks in the converted interior of the vehicle, with several of the older kids leading a vocabulary check while waiting for the teacher to arrive.

Children go to school in abandoned buses parked haphazardly
in the Little Rann of Kutch desert. (Salimah Shivji/CBC)

Children take their lessons inside the bus.
(Salimah Shivji/CBC)

There's a desperate wish for more opportunities among many of the salt farmers, and solar is providing some of the answer.
Jerabhai Dhamecha, 34, has three daughters and one son, all in elementary and middle school.
As he raked his large salt pan, gathering the salt crystals to one side, he listed what his solar panels have brought the family a new brick house in their village, a new tractor, a motorcycle.
'My grandfather didn't have anything'
Before solar energy changed everything, "we couldn't even buy a bicycle," said Dhamecha, 34.
"My grandfather didn't have anything. They used to carry water and bring it [to the fields] on foot."
He's now making about 60 per cent more profit, without the cost of diesel weighing him down. 
A fellow Agariya chimed in with a similar thought, as he eagerly demonstrated how his solar-powered water pump worked.
Kalubhai Surela, 58, compared the panels to having an extra son or to having his father, long dead, return to help the family earn an entirely new salary.
"Our grandfathers felt nothing but sadness in this desert. Their lives were a struggle," Surela said.
"But now, after solar energy, there is pure joy here."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Salimah Shivji
Journalist
Salimah Shivji is CBC's South Asia correspondent, based in Mumbai. She has covered everything from natural disasters and conflicts, climate change to corruption across Canada and the world in her nearly two decades with the CBC.