THE SALT YOU BOUGHT THIS MORNING— AND THE TAX THAT TOPPLED AN EMPIRE

Under the East India Company, salt became a lucrative source of revenue.

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In 1759 (two years after Plassey) the Company seized saltworks near Calcutta, suddenly doubling land rents and transit fees on salt transport. In 1764 Robert Clive monopolized salt (along with tobacco and spices) and forced villagers to buy from Company depots. London officials denounced this as “disgraceful” and in 1768 the salt monopoly was briefly lifted. But within a few years Warren Hastings reimposed control: he handed out salt-farming contracts in 1772 that forced coastal workers (malangas) to sell salt to the government at fixed rates.

A long-running project of the Raj was to maximize salt revenue. From 1788 onward, the Company auctioned salt to wholesalers, ratcheting the tax up to 3.25 rupees per maund (gy37 kg). The wholesale price of salt jumped from 1.25 to nearly 4 rupees per maund - “an exorbitant rate that few could afford”. To choke off smuggling, the British built a customs barrier across India. By the 1840s a 2,500-mile “salt hedge” of thorn bushes and walls stretched from the Indus to the Ganges delta. Nearly 12,000 guards patrolled it, stopping anyone carrying salt between provinces. By mid-century salt yielded about 10 % of India’s revenues. In 1880 alone, about 7 million (pounds) came from salt.

The pressure eased only slightly by late century. In 1878 the British imposed a uniform salt tax across India. Where Bombay and Madras had paid only 1 rupee 13 annas per maund, the tax jumped to 2 rupees 8 annas; Bengal and Assam saw it cut from 3 rupees 4 annas down to 2 rupees 14 annas. Salt possession became a state monopoly: Indians could legally make or carry salt only under

and a half percent of his income) in salt tax for 49 lbs of salt. In effect, a poor family could not afford all the salt it needed without going into debt.