Today Gujarat government has announced relief in VAT Value Added Tax on Industrial Salt produced by Agaria or salt pan workers.
They generally work in very harsh conditions and were exploited for decades by traders and middlemen, they generally die young. Penury and the effect of working in an environment where they are covered in an abrasive coating of salt, drastically reduces their life expectancy. The tribals and traditional salt workers take to tobacco and liquor to escape the reality of their lives, adds to the heavy toll on their bodies.
