Chef Koushik S., also known as the ‘Mad Chef’, who shares cooking and eating tips on social media with great gustatory spirit, had some unusual advice about using salt. He said that while cooking, salt should be sprinkled from a height to ensure it spreads evenly across the dish. “That way, you will use only as much as you need. It makes even sweets taste better. It brings out the flavour of chocolate in cakes. It’s a condiment that brings both flavour and sparkle to our food,” he said, his arm poised high above a pan on a stove, ready to sprinkle the salt.

A good ‘harvest’ of this taste-enhancer brings joy to producers and salt pan workers, who, as of 2021-22, had produced 23.93 lakh tonnes on land belonging to the Central and State governments and private owners. Nine coastal districts produce sea salt in Tamil Nadu, and the State has, over the years, earned the status of being among the top three salt producers in the country.

Right combo brings out the best

Cooking salt constitutes around 25% of the salt produced in India. The right combination of sun and seawater brings out the best quality sea salt or crystal salt (different from rock salt). A.R.A.S. Dhanapalan, a long-time salt manufacturer, explains that earlier, seawater with 3 degrees of salt content used to be stored in small pans for being dried under harsh sunlight to produce salt in 20 or 25 days. “Now, the producers sink borewells up to 120 feet to draw groundwater with 6 to 8 degrees of salt content. At some places, the salt content goes up to even 9 or 10 degrees, and those lucky owners can get the salt from the pans within 15 days.”

But unseasonal rain and heavy downpours during the monsoons in the past few years have wreaked havoc on the salt industry. Salt manufacturers, who should have moved production to the top gear in April, are yet to harvest the first superior-quality salt of the year. “Thoothukudi district, which usually produces over 25 lakh tonnes every year, has been hit hard by nature’s forces. Manufacturers, who have agreed to supply salt to various industries, are buying the salt from Gujarat to fulfil their commitments,” says M. Sathish Chandran, a small-time salt manufacturer.

The district, Tamil Nadu’s largest salt producer, has been buying salt for at least three years. Salt from the State used to be supplied to chemical industries; lubricant manufacturers; the food industry for the manufacture of ice-cream and snacks; the units making salt-resistant industrial coatings; preservation industry; cadaver research; and dyeing units and tanneries in various States, including Odhisha, Bihar, and West Bengal. However, owing to the cut-throat competition from Gujarat’s salt manufacturers, those in Tamil Nadu limit their reach up to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.

The unseasonal rain has also severely affected the livelihoods of salt pan workers, says M. Krishnamoorthy, president, Tamil Nadu Manual Workers Association. “They have no alternative employment, because after years of working on the pans in the sun, and carrying heavy loads, they are not physically fit for any other work. The government provides a relief of ₹5,000 during the monsoon to a registered member of a family. This should be extended to all those who work on the pans,” he says.

D. Amutha, associate professor of Economics, St. Mary’s College, Thoothukudi, has done a study on salt production. She says the area had been so badly affected that even exports were down. “Like agriculture, this condiment, which makes our food savoury, depends on the vagaries of nature. We should understand that the entire country cannot be dependent on Gujarat alone, as one natural calamity in that State will lead to us importing salt from other nations. The government should take salt out of the jurisdiction of the Industries Department and bring it under the Agriculture Department,” she suggests.

It has been a long-pending demand of the manufacturers that salt cultivation be considered an agricultural practice. A majority of the manufacturers work as families on their small pans, called Thann Paadu. “The government may give its unused land on lease at subsidised rates for salt production, as is being done in Gujarat. The Tamil Nadu government, which supplies free power for farming, should extend it to the salt industry, if it wants us to compete with Gujarat, which is the largest producer in the country and has started entering the south Indian market,” says A. Dhanaraj, another small-time manufacturer. K. Sankaran of the CITU says that in many parts of the region, salt production has not even begun yet. “By May, half of the annual production is usually completed. However, this year, the rain has washed away weeks of preparatory work — forming bunds and pressing down the clay to form the base of the pans — causing a tremendous loss to both workers and manufacturers,” he adds, urging the government to simplify procedures and create facilities at salt pans, such as toilets, drinking water supply, and sheltered space for the workers to rest and eat.

Plea for ESI hospitals

Representatives of workers unions urge that Employee State Insurance hospitals be opened in districts where salt pans are functioning. They also seek an increase in compensation for workers. It is estimated that more than 3 lakh workers are engaged in salt pans in the State.

Lingammal, a salt pan worker of Thoothukudi, works from daybreak during the season. She earns around ₹600 a day but gets work only once a week, which is insufficient to run her household, she says. “Over the past two years, the working days have come down drastically. Many people have borrowed money from self-help groups and moneylenders at a high interest rate,” she says. She adds that she had worked only for about 20 days from January to April, and is barely managing to survive.

A combination of factors has led to the reduction in salt production in the State. The Central government’s decision not to renew leases was a major one. At that time, it was also decided to disband the Union Salt Department and put Central government land to other uses. According to the reply of the Deputy Commissioner of Salt at Shastri Bhavan, Chennai, to a question posed under the Right to Information Act, as on January 23, 2025, a total of 10 proposals were received from Union Ministries and Departments for transfer of salt land. This includes 372.60 acres in Nagapattinam, Kayalpattinam, Arumuganeri, Kulasekarapattinam, Neidavasal, and Tharangambadi for the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. In Tiruvallur district, the Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) has applied for 1,718 acres of land in Voyalur, Kattupalli, Kalanji, and Puzhudhivakkam. Orders have been issued for transfer of land at Sivandakulam in Thoothukudi district to the Coast Guard; to the State Highways Department for laying two bypasses in Chengalpattu district; and to the ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, also in Chengalpattu.

Small manufacturers leave business

Ramesh Kandaswamy, of the Covelong Salt Manufacturers Association, says that some 15 years ago, there were 65 manufacturers in the area; but now only four remain. Many small manufacturers left the business. This is the case in other places too. According to the annual reports of the Salt Department between 2013-14 and 2021-22, the total production from Central government-owned land in the entire country fell from 7% to 4.95%. In Tamil Nadu, it came down from 38.27% to 32.68%. The Central government’s acreage under salt production in the State came down from 16,688 acres to 14,017 acres and production dipped from 9.90 lakh tonnes to 7.82 lakh tonnes. Recent data are not available because the department website does not have the annual reports after 2021-22.

An industry expert says that around 40% of the salt produced in the State comes from Central government land. The Manu Bhai Shah Committee of 1958, formed to analyse the challenges faced by salt manufacturers after Independence, suggested uniform lease rents and longer periods of lease to promote long-term investment and increase production. In 1969, a resolution was passed to restrict the lease period to 20 years for administrative purposes and introduce lease renewal based on merit. This 1969 resolution was followed by the Government of India until 2013 when the Shubra Singh Committee was constituted to review the assignment fees and ground rent for Salt Department land.

A resolution passed in 2013 marked a policy shift, with the government deciding against lease renewal for the current lessees. Additionally, the assignment fee increased from ₹10 per tonne/acre/year to ₹100 per tonne, subject to a minimum production per acre with an increase of 10% every three years, as compared to very nominal rates charged by the various States for their salt land. “This created a significant financial burden on lessees and resulted in court litigation and a decline in production from Central government-owned salt land. In Tamil Nadu, the government levies a fixed rent of ₹135 a year per acre for salt from its land, which is witnessing a near steady production,” the expert explains.

Economist Venkatesh Athreya feels that measures should be taken to set right the decrease in production since salt is an essential commodity. The subject of salt is on the Central List since only a few States manufacture it. It should be moved to the Concurrent List so that the States, too, would have some control over salt production. The Centre should not focus on the number and aim to sell or hive off land to other departments. The livelihood of hundreds of thousands of small producers and labourers across the salt-producing States should be protected.

K. Mariappan, of South India Salt Manufacturers Joint Action Committee, says that due to court intervention, a section of manufacturers has managed to continue production. The matter is in arbitration and hopefully, something positive will come out of it. “The situation in Andhra Pradesh is even worse. We hope that the Tamil Nadu government will take over the land belonging to the Centre so that we can continue making salt. The Central government only wants to dispose of its land. Hopefully, it will agree to hand over the land to the respective States,” he says.

State willing to take over Central land

Sources in the State government confirm that to save the producers and the labourers, the State has informed the Centre that it is willing to take over the land for which leases have expired. A senior official says the Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation has applied to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, for the land. “This was done in consultation with the association of small salt producers in Tamil Nadu. The land will be utilised in consultation with the producers.” Salt manufacturers hope that the State will take over the land and evolve a scheme to sublease it to them. A section of manufacturers is worried about the government’s announcement that a reservoir would be created on the salt land in Thiruporur taluk of Chengalpattu district to supply water to Chennai city. Official sources say the land has not been in use for long.

Though Himalayan salt, black salt, rock salt, Kosher salt, bamboo salt, and Celtic sea salt can be bought by those who can afford it, Devi Priya, a home-maker who regularly grinds sea salt in a pestle for cooking, says nothing can beat the home-grown, easily available sea salt. With such a fantastic following, the sun and the rain will perhaps be kinder to the salt manufacturers.

(With inputs from P. Sudhakar in Thoothukudi and Shankari Nivethitha in Kanniyakumari.)