I tried farming salt in India as part of a volunteer experience. The dry heat is worse than a hair dryer up your nose with only warm water to drink. This job is unbelievably hard its like a 10 hour gym session for them they make it look easy. If you can help them store that water and transform it into drinking water you will help them in incredible ways. Local ppl have underground storage tanks with tortoise to help keep their drinking water clean. Unbelievably smart people, give them an idea and they will put it into practice.
Smart would be choosing a vocation that the local environment supports. Scratching for a pinch of salt from the desert is just not a good idea compared to separating from salt water, which is substantially easier and provides clean water as well.
@@lmlh7967 I thought so too but it seems to work and they have been doing it for a long time. I think they do it to keep parasites out of the water I couldn't get a full explanation when I was there
Reminded me of my 35 days journey in Egypt and Jordan in September/October 2021. So hot I can't even function. I kept my bottle water in hostel freezer at night. Took it out when I was out & about visiting temples
@@zackcarl7861 no no, big companies tried to cut through and own lands by the good grace of the indian government, but then people protested Also you make it sound like the middle men cant be controlled and told what to do
To put that into perspective, one kg of sea salt costs about $ 1.91 in my local supermarket - so a ton is about $ 1910. Pretty amazing how huge the margins are.
Not really, that’s repackaging, marketing, transportation, lots of machinery, change of hands and expenses along the way. Your grocery store probably only sells it for twice what they buy it for.
@@CheddarCheeseBandit The compounding margins are very inefficient. A lot of middle-men take unearned margins and the actual producers of goods earn the least piece of these margins. Unethical would be an understatement.
@@NaderNabilart Issue is others have scaled the raw material production up to the point their operation is too inefficient, most countries have a few production facilities to do this; hell the US has like > 90% of it's needed salt production coming out of just seven of it's states. Best thing they could do is try to do the entire processing chain, maybe multi-market by offering their salt as no heavy machinery used etc but that requires a lot of up front investment they likely don't have.
Absolutely disgusting how so many of the raw producers doing all the dangerous back breaking work across so many industries are taken advantage of by their own governments and don't even make enough to better their lives of those of their children. The salt farmers need a satisfactory minimum market price, land ownership, decriminalization of all their agricultural acts, and more government assistance. There also needs to be legislation that punishes salt refiners for Black Listing salt farmers.
Governments and corporations have ruined earth.... lets not talk about the millions suffering each year cause fast food is cheap and organic isn't.... chips isntead of small 5 dollar quacamole... etc.
Lol. And then you will complain that Salt is expensive. Labour is cheap in India. Logistics are expensive. If you want them to be paid more, the manufacturers will add that cost to price of the salt which consumer will have to bear.. And then Bakchod like you will complain about rising prices. Pay your maids and labourers under you extra first and then Gyaan baato on internet.
It is nice to see that Business Insiders gives sight of every small community around the different parts of world and makes everyone aware about their work ,which is very much essential.
@@patrick7742 I don't think they meant it that way. Yes, I will agree with them on the fact that it is nice to see them bring a major issue to a bigger part of the general public, but it's all they can do. There obviously can be rules and regulations made to try to solve this issue, but you have to remember- that's their main income source- take that away- they don't earn any more. And that brings up even more problems. There are many organizations, who're trying to either solve the issue or at least regulate it for the safety of ppl. I think every sane person watching this will get furious about this. Its the 21 century- everyone should have right to do whatever their heart loves, but sadly it's not possible in the less modernised countries. :)
I've learnt about the poverty problem from textbook but got totally shocked seeing it real in the video. The farmers should be respected not only because of the hard works but the positive attitude towards lives. Feel blessed to what we have and complain less when encountering dilemmas
Then you don't believe in capitalism. Unfortunately capitalism does not reward work based on fairness. It causes competition which means the people at the bottom of the labor chain always end up just able to survive on their income and no more. The only ways to stop that happening are trade unions or economic systems other than capitalism. The problem is the poorest laborers are also the least educated and so don't realize that they should start a union, and don't know how best to run one if they do. I personally favor a universal basic income to help with situations like this. It doesn't solve everything, but it helps.
They should'nt have to suffer so much to produce such a necessity to the world. Would be great to see people band together and get these guys the best tools and improved lifestyle they deserve
Salt is not hard to come by as you can guess from the low prices. The world doesnt need this backbreaking work to produce enough salt. But these people want/have to make living from producing salt by hand in a desert anyway because its the only thing they know.
@@rectorx1 there are some really great supplies that dont require this kind of labor. Slaves at least had decent tools to use. They could do all sorts of manual labor that isnt as low paying. Going to a city to be a cart walker pays more and causes less suffering. Perhaps it isnt about the money, maybe that is just their dharma.
The world tried that, it was called colonialism. Not a total failure in areas that the west could get their ideas to, before the Marxist came along and cultivated class envy, which is very easy to sell to people on the bottom, like those who read Business Insider. Telling primitive that they are poor because the clever white man is stealing your resources is a much easier pill to swallow than ' you're are backwards and weird so stop doing things like us or you'll always be that way.'
I am ashamed that I had to see this story on a foreign media channel rather than an Indian one. This just goes to show how priorities of Indian media are messed up. Finally great piece of reporting by Business Insider. Keep up the good work!
I mean we needs fund to do all this your emotions doesnt cost much. these foreign outlets have money to show mostly bad conditions of developing countries.
Doordarshan covered it long long agooooo. Also,even in the US,media outlets like CNN and Fox don't report on such issues. Why? Because media all around the world is owned by the capitalists and they don't want farmers to earn more. Stop blaming politics or Indian journos. Blame capitalism
Indian media is all right wing fox news or RT style garbage. Plus these farmers are doing it to themselves. It is laughable seeing a guy manually drag tools over the entire surface area of these salt pools. These people aren't needed, they are trying to compete with industrialized operations that use equipment to do 100 times the surface area in the same amount of time.
I have visited salt lakes in the outback of Australia and they're certainly not the type of place you would want to work let alone live. It's generally absolutely freezing cold at night and insanely hot during the day. Life barely exists.
@@nickstonehenge *Colonel Sandurz:* ''Are we being too literal?'' *Dark Helmet:* ''No you fool, we're following orders. We were told to comb the desert so we're combing it.''
@Libuse Young you do realize that this is like an extenely tiny portion of the world's salt? and that like 99% of what you get at the store came from a completely mechanized process in a fairly small facility? You do not need sprawling deserts for salt.
Writing from Adesar, area called Little Runn of kutch! Those people are really hard working! I have seen salt factories around town and it is painful knowing that these workers paid really less!
So many people around the world live hard lives. I'm deeply grateful for the time and location in which I was born. Hopefully, the salt farmers can organize in a way that will give them a fairer return for their labor. It's sad to see the little girl and realize that there is a good chance she will grow up to do the same kind of backbreaking labor her mother does.
yeah you mean places around the world like USA? USA is literally a 1st world 3rd world country that enjoy som of the highest taxes least benefits from taxes and little to no workers rights or regulations on how they can be treated. people who have it bad are forced to have 2 jobs to be able to afford a living and because they got 2jobs they can't improve their life and because they are broke they can't get educated. meaning people are just stuck in poverty and never able to get out. all that while believing they have it good and beter than Europe where minimum wage can support a living and where anyone can educate themselves and improve their lives while not having to worry about whether health insurance will cover their hospital trip or not. oh and paying less taxes while enjoying all those benefits
@@rampage3337 how racist you gotta be to assume India is some cess pit? What of your American South? There are more cases of incest in your Alabama than the rest of the entire world. These people are just stupid. India has lots of opportunity. You can come to city and get a tech job that'll teach you education easily. USA is not magic land of gold and opportunity. You Americans are so ignorant, you do not even know the rest of the world mocks you. Your Trump was like American kids cartoon with clowns throwing pies
Funny enough I wish I were in their place as I do no work whatsoever...The government literally just gives me money because I'm disabled I hate it and had to choose it due to significant problems in my life. Nobody trusts an aspergers person to work they always think they can manage completely on their own but they only need a nudge in the right direction to work correctly otherwise we all freak out because we don't know what to do next after the first directions were given... so many people aren't getting the things they need and it feels like its all topsy turvy. and frankly, farming salt sounds pretty straightforward I think I could do that constantly nonstop for days until a break on the weekends with good pay and working conditions and safety protocols. Like someone else said, they really need some gear, they get too much salt intake just from walking on the stuff. I'm sure they don't salt their food anyway though so it should be fine. I love the foods they have over there...very herbal and aromatic...fresh and NATURAL...
I’m not saying they are not underpaid but selling for $260 a ton does not mean they are making $260 a ton. If that is what was meant then it is worded wrong and words have meaning. There are many costs along the way between the desert and its final destination of a dinner table or wherever. Many regular workers get paid off that $260 and yes whatever big company takes a cut too.
Not to mention the government(s) need a nice fat tribute usually in various forms both directly and indirectly for each step in the process along the way. Every single last one of those ultimately end up getting paid by the end buyer not the businesses and it'd blow people's minds through an entire process how much that ends up being
Thank you for showing this video. It really opens my eyes on the things we take for granted in places like the united states. something as common as salt, these people are pretty much giving their lives for.
@Kaeble You're absolutely right. I don't go to resorts or travel. Unless a person is upper class, or middle class there are more important things to spend money on. My point was that it's easy in the United states of America to forget all the hard work that goes into every day things.
@@WokenRetard as if they had the means to do it any other way? They're stuck in a loop of perpetual poverty- they don't have enough money to improve the technology or ways of harvesting things, and no one is just giving it to them for free. They're doing it the only way they can. Doesn't really call for an out of touch racist comment
I always thought it's strange how cheap salt is on the shelf when it takes so much effort to mine, harvest, refine, and transport it, and now I know why. They pay practically nothing to the people actually working for it and send the profits up to the owners, ceos, and gov't instead of the people who give their lives to provide it.
This is a primitive way to do this, you don't buy this salt it is for local use. It costs 4 dollars a ton because that is how much it would cost to buy from big producers.
Salt is extemely easy to harvest. The majority of the planet is harvestable salt water. You can literally leave water out and get salt. That's how the Japanese discovered it. What they are doing in those deserts is "squeezing blood from a stone," ie they are using an objectively lesser technique and are trying to pretend like it's equivalent. If you harvest a whole field of wheat with scissors, you should not be surprised when your neighbor outperforms your harvest by using a sickle.
@@CaptainHalodude These people are selling their salt for 0,003€/kg. Even a 30 fold increase in what they get wouldn't increase the price by anything really.
When doing international pieces like these, it would be preferable to include unit conversions from imperial units. Nobody outside the US understands 113 degrees Farenheit intuitively, and a piece on Indian economics will draw a wide, multi-national audience if you make it accessible for them.
We have come a long way as Indians, from the the salt satyagraha movement led by Mahatma Ghandi as one of the first stepping stones to freedom, to now providing table salt detergents etc. to the common household, massive respect to these workers, its a shame how little they get paid compared to the industrialists, capitalism at its fines. Stuff like this really humbles me.
Almost similar in Indonesia, the price of local farmers' salt is only valued at $ 7 = 1 ton But because Indonesia needs more salt then the government imports salt from abroad at a price of $70 for 1 ton and this is very crazy. It's really a sad for local traditional salt farmers and the government is really shit.
this comment is wrong. The government only import the industrial salt, not the consumption. Since the standard of industry is different, that's the reason we import it.
Beda garam yang dari madura dan garam yang diimpor. Kualitasnya beda jauh makanya pemerintah perlu impor. Kalau industri kosmetik dan lainnya pake garam yang kadarnya rendah ya bisa menurun kualitas barangnya.... Coba riset dulu sebelum komentar....
Basically, salt traders deliberately underpay the salt farmers who then have to borrow from the salt traders to get by. The salt traders will then jack up their prices by 60 times per ton when selling the salt compared to what they bought the salt from the farmers eg farmers may sell a ton of salt from $2-5 but the traders will sell at $120-300 per ton.
Yeah, what's wrong with that? Problem is these people don't come together to form a union. Welcome to the NOMAD life. Oh and Capitalism. Isn't money great !!!
@@theCosmicQueen This is how Capitalism works-- this isn't just India. Replace the caste system with working-class/poor vs ruling-class/rich and it's the same thing.
@@hognosemyan Nah, a capitalist would industrialize and 95+% of the workers farming salt would loose the job, while he would take a greater cut in the end. Salt facilities are highly efficient in other parts of the world. Those workers are lucky that their work is stigmatized and the government declared the zone a national reservoir where only they can work. And a lot of people here talk about salt prices in their local markets, be it indians or others. That's the consumer end price, with trader loss of 20-25 % mass loss just because they deliver inpure salt and further processing is needed, like said in the video. Then his transport cost, labour cost, factory cost, profit margin, taxes. Then it's sold to a distributor which has the same costs besides processing, or directly to a bigger market, with again market labour cost, taxes, needed profit. They certainly don't live an easy life, but it's not a job where you get rich nor can they compere in production with others besides with low wages. In the end, they do their job like it was done for over a century. Somewhat reminds me of a lot of business insider dokus about other fields were people struggle in an industy by working in todays world like their grand grand parents did.
This makes me sad that I can walk literally over to my local grocery and buy a giant bag of salt for a few dollars or ship it from amazon without even moving from my spot right now. Meanwhile these people spend their 6 months slaving away just get paid $4 dollars a ton. Horrible.
The cost of living is less in there country. People in Mississippi get paid less than the people in New York because the price of living is less in Mississippi than New York.
@@gerald4027 As an Indian, it's still so low that it's disgusting that they get paid that little. Beggers in India can get more for less work. This really is nothing. I'm shocked that this is even sustainable. Yes, you can live on less money here, but you still need SOME money right?
You are making too much sense The poor must be allowed to, freely without paying even according to their ability, use government land and public resources(groundwater) to make a profit.
Salt you eating is demand and so the supply.. so will you stop eating salt.. ?loose remark is good to say but think deep .. real problem is west .. who consume consume and cause problem to developing world..
@pushpa Lol this is what would have happened in new farm laws. This is what happens when there is no MSP no Mandi and no regulations to protect farmers. BTW farm laws don't affect salt. Educate yourself.
Your salt doesn't come from these people. Why do you think every poor person in the world is only poor because they're working for pennies to supply you? Jesus. Your self depreciation is a disease on mankind.
I don't think consumers paying more will help. More like the companies should reinvest some of that profit into better equipment for these farmers. Medical too.
Salt you consume probably originated in your country. Almost every country has a salt mine. Most US salt comes from Kansas if I recall. They have modern equipment and wages.
That is pretty cool they figured out how to harvest the salt like that. Sucks all that hard work doesnt add to a lot of money. Hopefully they find a way to make everyone happy. Got a new subscriber. Was fun to watch. Great video
These people deserve respect and must be payed a livable wage.The Salt "traders" are using the workers! Seeing people being used like this outrages me, it's disgusting!
I got tiny blisters in my hand when i was helping my relatives preparing brine for making salted fish. Fortunately they went away after a day. Can't imagine getting exposed to salt for such a long time
@@Abyssal2808 because only weak, soft hands can blister. If you work to better yourself your hands literally harden. That's why handshakes have been important, because someone can be dressed up pretty like a Senator but they can't hide how soft their hands are. It's about doing the work yourself vs forcing other to do things for you. Even fat, rich people can have hard hands if they work for them.
Now after watching this, I have a huge respect for these people 🙏🙏🙏who are the reason we have salt on our plate. On top of that, it's really sad to know😭 that they've to go through so much for that, what's more they're not even getting paid enough.😡
Well according to law they are not suppose to harvest salt there as mentioned in the video if this was China they would have been jailed as the matter of fact. Government of India made a silent pact with the farmers but Traders like Rafeeq are putting the farmers in debt trap.
Good to see Business Insider creating content from my home state, love to see such insights which even i cant see living back there, good to see people talking my language Gujarati, good coverage, hope something good will happen to these peoples lives soon
Why are all the hard working people being treated so poorly? Meanwhile streamers sit all day in a chair being stupid and making more money than anyone who is being productive and contributing to society :(
Weird nudge at streamers, they’re entertainers for tons of people. Salt guys just deserve equal treatment, they both serve billions of people and should be rewarded fairly.
This is what farm laws were there to adress this issue of farmers being exploited by the merchants/middleman .... but i guess the story continues ..millions of such farmers have seen no change in their dire situation
No farmers who actually are farmers are exploited by people who claim to be farmers, the recent protest against farm laws were done by people who weren't farmers to begin with.
With this farm laws . All MSP crop farmers will become new Agariayas. Here Agariayas facing problem of business cartelization and no MSP problem. They are asking MSP.
I was wondering where Square got the inspiration for the Rosalians in Triangle Strategy, and I have to say....it's terrifying to think people are suffering like this in something that isn't fiction...
They deserve the proper foot, hand and eyewear to be protected as they harvest an essential item. Iodine in the salt has the ability to improve the immune system. And even salt that lacks iodine helps regulate certain hormones when consumed moderately.
an essential item which is produced with far more efficient means elsewhere and has a very low demand compared to other commodities due to the ammount that can be produced with little effort. they deserve to move on to better industries which are sustainable and actually provide enough value to produce a living wage.
They need help from the government to move out of the salt industry. It's literally produced everywhere in the world and without the need of these poor working conditions. It's why they don't make very much money from it in the first place
Yea, like maybe one of the four shirts every dude wears "for the decency of God." Like, does your God really care that much about how many shirts you wear? How about cutting up one of those to make a pair of sandals?
As one of the most common minerals on earth, salt mining is a hard game even for commercial ventures with massive mechanized vehicles and modern equipment. This here is the definition of “piss poor”.
@@ianthompson2802 We have a salt mine in town and as a millwright I am told to bring cheap tools into the mine. Once the tools reach the surface they instantly rust from the salt/moisture
That's crazy, if the farmers could simply refine the salt themselves they would go from the bottom of their society to the top. The people at the top know this and use every tactic they can to keep them poor. Human nature at it's finest.
I love these videos - truly eye-opening! wish Business Insider would include a way for us all to donate directly to the subjects of their videos. Would love the opportunity to give directly to people like this
They're not. They weren't supposed to be born. These creatures exist because India fucked over an entire state by the introduction of water and fertilizer intensive breeds of grain crops, the state in question being punjab; and because India legalised Pharma Intellectual Property Theft. These 2 things caused such a huge explosion in the population of that 3rd world socialist hellhole that the entire world will suffer the consequences till the day the last human dies.
I agree to pay Double or even the 4 times the Price I am paying at present for salt But, Agharia community should get a fair price for their hardwork $4 or ₹308 for 1000 kgs of Salt, it is outrageous
"fair price" It is a fair price. Their work is not even remotely valuable and the methods they use to extract it are horrible inefficient. Salt is not rare. Salt workers are not rare. Nothing about their job is necessary.
@@LaFonteCheVi yes, salt is the most abundant resource after the air, the water and the Soil on this planet So, I will suggest you, to spend a week without consuming any type of Salt or Salt containing edibles And share your experiences with us ,in this the same comment section It's only a matter of a weak, and today is Sunday, so you can start from tomorrow, and share your experience on next Sunday
there is. its called stop doing it. its clearly not a sustainable business. they arent exploited as much as they are making a low quantity of a poor quality product, in an environmentally destructive manner. they simply should not be doing it.
@@VeganDoris yes. plenty of activities dont earn enough money to live doing, which means you need to find something else to do. crushing rocks with a sledgehammer is backbreaking, but im not going to earn much money by selling crushed rock made that way.
@@claverse5478 from seawater and from underground salt mines. i think more salt for human consumption is produced from these than from desert salt farming as shown here.
Its amazing all the ways salt is harvested. Some is so compact its cut into bricks for lining the walls of curing rooms and some ends up on the street to melt snow.
Or maybe crack down on anti-competitive pricing on behalf of salt traders. Through price negotiation between dealers and suppliers a market price is established, such is the nature of a market based system.
@@lmy2366 that is very hard to prove and to enforce. A simpler solution that would probably be cheaper than the legal costs of enforcing that law would be a cooperative, and would probably be self financing once up and running.
We already have successful dairy cooperations, eg-Amul, it's the biggest dairy company here in India, there are thousands of local brands too. And yes I think there should be some promotion for salt also. I lived in this state (Gujarat) and they are lovely people, actually here they are known for their trade so when I saw this video I was actually shocked, I visited this place, there used to be a huge annual carnival and thousands of people used to come, sad to see these people exploited. I wish they get their fair amount of money.
@@Defeng67 It is not at all hard to prove. If you purchase the salt for sixty times less than what you resell it for, that is very indicative of illegal activity. How do you think such laws are prosecuted here?
I'm struggling to understand the $260 per ton figure... table salt is like 3-5 dollars for a cannister that weighs a pound. 50lb bags of water softening salt cost like 30 bucks. Rock salt for melting ice is like 20 bucks for a 30 lb bag... where can I get this $260 per ton salt?
You have to be a scumbag salt dealer to get it at $0.13 per pound. This video broke my heart. The Argiyazy people deserve so much better than we all are treating them.
Your prices SUCK. Sam's club here in the US sells table salt for $1.46 for 4lbs. Water softener salt is $7 for a 40-50lb bag. Are you shopping whole foods perhaps?
Salt fields are a real bad idea. The salt gets carried away by the wind, into fertile land, it kills the plant growth, which is why areas outside salts farms don't grow plants.
How much does salt cost where you live man? You noticed how salt sells for $240 a ton and the farmers get paid $4? How about paying the farmers $100 and $140 for the middle man. That keeps the price of salt the same.
I wonder what would happen if a fair-trade group were to pay $12/ton for the raw salt, and they had a desalination station for their fresh water needs 🧐. Perhaps small desalination stations could help with salt production, and the fresh water could be put into underground reservoirs. The tribesmen could be trained to operate and manage them, and have a skillset that is applicable in other industries too.
K, so I’ve learned something here- I was about to make a snarky comment mansplaining that whatever the researcher who ostensibly lived with the salt farmers was researching, it couldn’t have been the chemistry and geophysics of salt production, because I was sure that the brine they are working with would have to be alkaline, not acidic, based on my experience in agricultural contexts with the pH of saline soils created by surface evaporation of groundwater aquifers under artesian pressure. In that context the terms Saline and Alkaline are used pretty much interchangeably, as the salt deposits created that way are pretty much always significantly above 7 in pH, at least in my corner of the planet. I decided I should google the topic a bit before clicking the send button on my snarky comment, just in case my Dunning Kruger syndrome was showing again and there might turn out to be something I didn’t know on the subject. Lo and behold, the first thing which came up was a scholarly article on the formation of acidic groundwater brines in parts of Australia. Not sure whether similar geography and chemistry are at play here, but it’s fascinating to me that such a thing as acidic groundwater brine can even exist.
Thank you for showing the conditions of one of the Untouchable Community of india These people are known as Dalits and they face physical abuse, Discrimination, Oppression, no healthcare and education, this happens to them everyday in india and Nepal.
I'm confused. Near the beginning they mentioned the water has 10 times more saline than sea water but near the end they fear extracting too much ground water. Are people meant to be using super salinated water for some other purpose?
water can flow underground. perhaps when they lower the groundwater level in the salty area, non-salty groundwater flows in from areas around it. they certainly are evaporating a lot of water.
@@michaelharipersad9882 this isn't not amazon rainforest, rains in deserts will take a lot time (hundreds or thousands of years) to replenish ground water.
Wait, you mean Insider might lie to people? Like saying the pumps are powered by solar but immediately show a gas powered engine? Or show clips suggesting they build some of it by hand when clearly you can see machine marks on the trenches?
Instead of selling their whole production to industries, they should process some of their own salt in ancient labor intensive way and sell them to consumers and stores as a novelty product in 1 kg packs. That way they can earn a lot from a portion of their product with little sale.
The thing is, there is a heavy take through the inefficiency of everyone wanting a big cut of the price that causes these massive price hikes. A good example was a company here sold coffee, one had an "ad" that stated if you bought this package of coffee you would give approx 30 cent extra on the price to the farmer. Now the other coffee from the same brand that didn't do this really showed the "cost" they took to provide this. It wasn't just 30 cent more expensive, or 60 or 1 dollar, but almost 3 dollars more expensive...
This documentary is good in showing the life of others. To appreciate our own. If it is not for these workers salt would be more expensive for some areas of thr world. But this is just normal jobs It is part of life
I wonder if anyone can tweet this link to the PMO and Narendra Modi’s Twitter account, along with Amitbhai and even the entire Indian cabinet if necessary. Sometimes our leaders simply don’t get the information, given how busy they are managing a huge country of 1.3 billion people. But I do believe our political leaders and civil servants at the center are good people and if something like this is brought to their attention, steps to remedy injustices will be taken on an urgent basis. Not everybody has the mindset to go on dharna and block highways outside Delhi to demand rights. And in instances like this, it is WE as Indians who must take proactive steps to bring such matters to the attention of appropriate authorities and seek remedy and justice as fellow Indians and fellow human beings.
Even if they formed a cooperative, I doubt they could ever come up with the money necessary to build a salt refinery. It's also unlikely that they could even form a cooperative to begin with, since they don't own the land or water they're farming.
Where would the money come from for the co-op? More loans to put them deeper in debt? The Government of India is to blame for this. The middle men too.
Exactly, Joseph is right. These people are too poor and weak. Furthermore, companies kill any possibility to form such groups as they don't want to loose on the market. I am an Indian and except milk production, no cooperative has ever succeeded in India. Milk too succeeded only because the govt. stepped in and helped to build such cooperatives.
How is farming salt in the same exact spot for over one hundred years depleting ground water if the price for their salt increases? Didn't the documentary say the ground water there is saltier than the sea? Wouldn't that mean this particular water is only good for harvesting salt since salt water cannot be used to grow plants? I think they just don't want those people to break away from perpetual slavery or poverty.
Yes it is much saltier than the sea but obviously that salt isn't infinite. That's why they're having to drill deeper and deeper and use more and more water. Eventually the salt in that area will run out but most likely the water will be long gone before it.
I'm so glad that someone else caught that ridiculous statement. It's so common that SJWs catch themselves in logical inconsistencies simply by talking.
If hard work equated to success these guys would be rich. Unfortunately no matter where you go success boils down to, luck, talent, connections, ownership....
@@videogamebomer My boss is me. I have my own businesses because I know what is working smart instead of hard. You, you seem like you will be poor your entire life.
Was going to ask how I got here. But it's quite simple, I saw a video of how technology is made and the lie we've been told by the big tech companies. This crap is just insane, and someone needs to do something about it. These videos make you grateful for what you have. If you're going to complain about an item, try going out there and helping to make it.
That salt trader guy talking about their not bound to him, they can sell to anyone else 👀 like the salt farmers have a choice in the prices 😤 the nerve of that guy! They have to get what they can get in order to survive! Outrageous!
Breaks my heart to see such hard working people get exploited by businesses (especially since they have a higher chance of getting sick in the process).
unfortnately its pretty much impossibe to ensure that funds go directly to them. all you can really do is visit them and donate directly :/ obviously not feasible for 99% of people
You are an fool. The unionization part, fine. I doubt it would work but sure, people should have that freedom. But the government and unions FORCING distributors to buy for specific sellers? You are a Grade-A fool. It's like you've learned nothing from history as to why that is a catastrophically bad idea that would lead to everyone being poorer except for the person controlling such a corrupt racket. All that would achieve is the price of salt skyrocketing (and everything that uses salt) and creating a poorly functioning monopoly.
Wow they won't negotiate for better prices nor pack up and do something else, so the answer is getting the Indian government to point guns at their business partners and force them to lose money? Okay, Marx.
You have no idea whether that would ruin the traders' business or lives. Everyone in the situation is trying to live as best as they can and some are just more successful. That should not be sickening to you.
I never understood these kinds of deep inland salt-farms. I understand that costal areas are generally more expensive land-wise, but creating tributaries from the ocean that have canal like flow controls would allow salt-farms to be produced year round, within close distance of amenities for the farmers, easier routes for delivery, and very low environmental impact since they would be using sea-water from nearby. Digging large canals would be expensive, but salt is one of the most consumed resources world-wide and an investment like that would pay-off immensely. I know that a lot of places wouldn't want to front the cost - and people like these Agariya certainly can't afford that investment, but the government wants to protect the region and is already sponsoring them a bit anyway which means they value their salt production.
I think the practical problem is that the relative humidity is usually too high in coastal regions. Salt production needs a very low relative humidity to create a high rate of evaporation. There are coastal areas with low relative humidity, but people don't live there, just like the desert.
@@seunosewa Which would still be the case if you diverted large amounts of seawater to a reservoir, let it evaporate, and harvested the salt. As long as you control the outflow of water, the resulting concentration of salt will only ever increase. This happens with inland lakes all the time, where because water isn't flowing out to the ocean, it simply increases in salt concentration. The only issue is the time it takes for the water to evaporate, which in more humid climates will take a lot more time than in arid climates. But working on bigger scales would significantly offset this issue.
@@daemn42 You are right, and it would take some work to find the right conditions for such an operation. I can't help but think it would be more efficient than what these guys are doing however.
Sounds like this market is ready for a shakeup if the profits are really that high for the people buying from the farmers. Some people should easily be able to pay the farmers double or triple, sign long term exclusivity contracts and make safe money while marginally improving farmers lives.
Unless others start using automated means for the salt pans. The whole process is not hard to automate tbh., only those low wages keep it from happening since initial investment will be somewhat high and operators skilled in maintaining and operating those machines need to be trained/organized first. The natives will most likely not be those people.
@@Rotblattchinchilla12 the points you raised are probably why this system continues with significant human labor; automating it would incur significant up front costs as well as higher costs for relatively higher skilled laborers to operate the machines. I think even just someone with enough capital to outbid the current buyers for the existing labor pool could result in a win-win for the newcomer and the current laborers.
@@SergeiTheAnarch yeah and no one is doing it after 5 million people viewed this video which means Business Insider just tried making the refiners look bad. Remember, this family makes $4,000 after 6 months of work. The title says $4 a ton. So 1,000 tons of salt probably take a lot more labor to refine & package & market. Those factories probably have more significant upfront cost than getting the salt and they make 60x more. Then in the US, I recently bought 4 pounds of salt for $4 so that means they're making 500x more. So that means if you believe any of this, you stand to make up to 500x so literally anyone remotely smart would do it OR this video is untrue.
There are lots of modes of transportation, airboats could transport them in the muddy season, wheeled when its drier. Yes I know money is an issue. But there are ways to make these peoples lives better
Very hard to digest, even with loads of salt. Traders and Middlemen are exploiting these poor people and gov is mum . Same with tea garden workers in Assam .
@@VinnyBloo Knights usually didn't go around putting a sword to random peasants in feudalism either. If a system is structured to force people into poverty labor with minimal other prospects, while the product of their labor makes a certain class of people who don't do the work comparatively wealthy, that is a class system designed to exploit the workers of that society by its very nature. in this case, this is Neo-Colonial style Global Capitalism, enforcing conditions in which these salt farmers are putting in a tremendously huge amount of effort to only get $4 a ton, which is a tiny fraction of what their effort actually gets sold for to western consumers ($1000-$2000 a ton). That $4 a ton only amounts to bare sustenance and not to mention they get horrible illnesses on top of it, while other countries of people live comfortable as a direst result of their labor. These are slave like conditions, just without the direct human ownership part. Here's the bottom line... the difference between what a final product is sold for to consumers, minus what the people who produced it are paid on a per unit basis, is exploitation. The bigger that difference, the bigger the exploitation. These people are mathematically being hyper exploited .
For the blindness aspect, just wear the stuff that Inuit wear. It’s like glasses but with narrow slits to allow less light through. They can even be made from cheap materials Edit: they’re called snow goggles but they would work great for preventing blindness caused by the landscape
![COLOMBIA vs. CHILE [4-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 10](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TDjN4W3yy1k/mqdefault.jpg)
I tried farming salt in India as part of a volunteer experience. The dry heat is worse than a hair dryer up your nose with only warm water to drink. This job is unbelievably hard its like a 10 hour gym session for them they make it look easy. If you can help them store that water and transform it into drinking water you will help them in incredible ways. Local ppl have underground storage tanks with tortoise to help keep their drinking water clean. Unbelievably smart people, give them an idea and they will put it into practice.
Smart would be choosing a vocation that the local environment supports. Scratching for a pinch of salt from the desert is just not a good idea compared to separating from salt water, which is substantially easier and provides clean water as well.
How does the tortoise keep the water clean? I thought they were salmonella carriers? Genuine question
@@lmlh7967 I thought so too but it seems to work and they have been doing it for a long time. I think they do it to keep parasites out of the water I couldn't get a full explanation when I was there
Reminded me of my 35 days journey in Egypt and Jordan in September/October 2021. So hot I can't even function. I kept my bottle water in hostel freezer at night. Took it out when I was out & about visiting temples
@@lmlh7967 salmonella can be killed with enough salt. id say they have enough of it there
Keeping the farmers poor means they can’t invest in the tools to refine the salt themselves, it’s really vicious
@@zackcarl7861 The government owns the land, not the small traders and the salt farmers lease it.
Yep, that is what gigantic com0anies are about. They are greedy
@@Angela-pj5xy that's what I said
and for vast farmers in developing word, they won't buy more danced tools.
culture and social make them so.
@@zackcarl7861 no no, big companies tried to cut through and own lands by the good grace of the indian government, but then people protested
Also you make it sound like the middle men cant be controlled and told what to do
To put that into perspective, one kg of sea salt costs about $ 1.91 in my local supermarket - so a ton is about $ 1910. Pretty amazing how huge the margins are.
Not really, that’s repackaging, marketing, transportation, lots of machinery, change of hands and expenses along the way. Your grocery store probably only sells it for twice what they buy it for.
@@CheddarCheeseBandit The compounding margins are very inefficient. A lot of middle-men take unearned margins and the actual producers of goods earn the least piece of these margins. Unethical would be an understatement.
@@NaderNabilart Issue is others have scaled the raw material production up to the point their operation is too inefficient, most countries have a few production facilities to do this; hell the US has like > 90% of it's needed salt production coming out of just seven of it's states. Best thing they could do is try to do the entire processing chain, maybe multi-market by offering their salt as no heavy machinery used etc but that requires a lot of up front investment they likely don't have.
@@CheddarCheeseBandit You barely need to market salt
Its practically essential
Where the hell are you buying sea salt for 2$ a kg?! Its like 1$ an oz
Absolutely disgusting how so many of the raw producers doing all the dangerous back breaking work across so many industries are taken advantage of by their own governments and don't even make enough to better their lives of those of their children. The salt farmers need a satisfactory minimum market price, land ownership, decriminalization of all their agricultural acts, and more government assistance. There also needs to be legislation that punishes salt refiners for Black Listing salt farmers.
They're brown. Don't care.
Governments and corporations have ruined earth.... lets not talk about the millions suffering each year cause fast food is cheap and organic isn't.... chips isntead of small 5 dollar quacamole... etc.
@@FrostyBud777 they’re not white. Don’t care.
Actually, government should stay the fk out of everything.
@@themonsterunderyourbed9408 Bingo!
Salt is very cheap in India like 1kg of less than 10 cents but these people do a lot of hardwork and they should be paid more.
Salt can produce easily. I think they are the one that need to change work.
Hey it’s simpleton rwik
@@rwik....170 What an idea!!
You should be the next prime minister
sry all the money went to that bakchoe and dump truck
Lol. And then you will complain that Salt is expensive. Labour is cheap in India. Logistics are expensive.
If you want them to be paid more, the manufacturers will add that cost to price of the salt which consumer will have to bear..
And then Bakchod like you will complain about rising prices.
Pay your maids and labourers under you extra first and then Gyaan baato on internet.
When I'm having a horrible day watching stuff like this humbles me real quick.
For sure man
Lies again? Real Salt
Humbled real quick.
@@repentandbelieveinjesuschr5875 bro shut up you have sinned aswell
@@repentandbelieveinjesuschr5875 jesus hates you
It is nice to see that Business Insiders gives sight of every small community around the different parts of world and makes everyone aware about their work ,which is very much essential.
First stay away from middIemen like Rafiq Rahim! Never have good intentions.
These people are indentured slaves, why do you see this as a nice insight? This made me furious.
@@patrick7742 I don't think they meant it that way. Yes, I will agree with them on the fact that it is nice to see them bring a major issue to a bigger part of the general public, but it's all they can do. There obviously can be rules and regulations made to try to solve this issue, but you have to remember- that's their main income source- take that away- they don't earn any more. And that brings up even more problems. There are many organizations, who're trying to either solve the issue or at least regulate it for the safety of ppl. I think every sane person watching this will get furious about this. Its the 21 century- everyone should have right to do whatever their heart loves, but sadly it's not possible in the less modernised countries. :)
@@laurasilina80 I was replying to the person over me who deleted their comment.
@@patrick7742 ohhh okey
I've learnt about the poverty problem from textbook but got totally shocked seeing it real in the video.
The farmers should be respected not only because of the hard works but the positive attitude towards lives.
Feel blessed to what we have and complain less when encountering dilemmas
Lies again? Naughty America Decrease In Salt
Good piece of reporting guys. And I agree, these poor people should receive a fair price for the work they do.
Yeah they should be paid 1000 USD a month, the amount a doctor earns.
@@SafavidAfsharid3197 no one is saying that lmao
TMH God will pay back all who have judged them vengeance is mine saith Yahawah TMH God. APTTMHY
Then you don't believe in capitalism. Unfortunately capitalism does not reward work based on fairness. It causes competition which means the people at the bottom of the labor chain always end up just able to survive on their income and no more. The only ways to stop that happening are trade unions or economic systems other than capitalism. The problem is the poorest laborers are also the least educated and so don't realize that they should start a union, and don't know how best to run one if they do. I personally favor a universal basic income to help with situations like this. It doesn't solve everything, but it helps.
Only if u pay more for salt they should be getting paid more
They should'nt have to suffer so much to produce such a necessity to the world. Would be great to see people band together and get these guys the best tools and improved lifestyle they deserve
Hopefully some non profit organizations can help
Salt is not hard to come by as you can guess from the low prices. The world doesnt need this backbreaking work to produce enough salt. But these people want/have to make living from producing salt by hand in a desert anyway because its the only thing they know.
@@oO0Xenos0Oo agree. I always think about humanity knowing inhumanity exists. Should treat your farmers well for better supplies don't you think?
@@rectorx1 there are some really great supplies that dont require this kind of labor. Slaves at least had decent tools to use. They could do all sorts of manual labor that isnt as low paying. Going to a city to be a cart walker pays more and causes less suffering. Perhaps it isnt about the money, maybe that is just their dharma.
The world tried that, it was called colonialism. Not a total failure in areas that the west could get their ideas to, before the Marxist came along and cultivated class envy, which is very easy to sell to people on the bottom, like those who read Business Insider. Telling primitive that they are poor because the clever white man is stealing your resources is a much easier pill to swallow than ' you're are backwards and weird so stop doing things like us or you'll always be that way.'
I am ashamed that I had to see this story on a foreign media channel rather than an Indian one. This just goes to show how priorities of Indian media are messed up.
Finally great piece of reporting by Business Insider. Keep up the good work!
Seems like most stories from India come with comments from citizens expressing shame.
Don't kick yourself too hard: It's like this everywhere.
I mean we needs fund to do all this your emotions doesnt cost much. these foreign outlets have money to show mostly bad conditions of developing countries.
Doordarshan covered it long long agooooo. Also,even in the US,media outlets like CNN and Fox don't report on such issues. Why? Because media all around the world is owned by the capitalists and they don't want farmers to earn more. Stop blaming politics or Indian journos. Blame capitalism
Indian media is all right wing fox news or RT style garbage. Plus these farmers are doing it to themselves. It is laughable seeing a guy manually drag tools over the entire surface area of these salt pools. These people aren't needed, they are trying to compete with industrialized operations that use equipment to do 100 times the surface area in the same amount of time.
0:21 His eyes, wow. Calm yet strong spirit. 🙏🏽✨
I have visited salt lakes in the outback of Australia and they're certainly not the type of place you would want to work let alone live. It's generally absolutely freezing cold at night and insanely hot during the day. Life barely exists.
These guys took combing the desert to a whole new level.
we aint found shit
Literally
Amogus
@@nickstonehenge
*Colonel Sandurz:* ''Are we being too literal?''
*Dark Helmet:* ''No you fool, we're following orders. We were told to comb the desert so we're combing it.''
@@nihilist1680 Sir, our radars are... JAM
They are the proverbial “salt of the earth”, truly under appreciated and however most important!
@Libuse Young you do realize that this is like an extenely tiny portion of the world's salt? and that like 99% of what you get at the store came from a completely mechanized process in a fairly small facility?
You do not need sprawling deserts for salt.
"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members."
Writing from Adesar, area called Little Runn of kutch! Those people are really hard working! I have seen salt factories around town and it is painful knowing that these workers paid really less!
Kira kira mereka di bayar berapa rupee perhari?
So many people around the world live hard lives. I'm deeply grateful for the time and location in which I was born. Hopefully, the salt farmers can organize in a way that will give them a fairer return for their labor. It's sad to see the little girl and realize that there is a good chance she will grow up to do the same kind of backbreaking labor her mother does.
no not necessary, she can get education nd that too free .
yeah you mean places around the world like USA? USA is literally a 1st world 3rd world country that enjoy som of the highest taxes least benefits from taxes and little to no workers rights or regulations on how they can be treated. people who have it bad are forced to have 2 jobs to be able to afford a living and because they got 2jobs they can't improve their life and because they are broke they can't get educated. meaning people are just stuck in poverty and never able to get out. all that while believing they have it good and beter than Europe where minimum wage can support a living and where anyone can educate themselves and improve their lives while not having to worry about whether health insurance will cover their hospital trip or not. oh and paying less taxes while enjoying all those benefits
@@rampage3337 how racist you gotta be to assume India is some cess pit? What of your American South? There are more cases of incest in your Alabama than the rest of the entire world.
These people are just stupid. India has lots of opportunity. You can come to city and get a tech job that'll teach you education easily.
USA is not magic land of gold and opportunity. You Americans are so ignorant, you do not even know the rest of the world mocks you. Your Trump was like American kids cartoon with clowns throwing pies
Funny enough I wish I were in their place as I do no work whatsoever...The government literally just gives me money because I'm disabled I hate it and had to choose it due to significant problems in my life. Nobody trusts an aspergers person to work they always think they can manage completely on their own but they only need a nudge in the right direction to work correctly otherwise we all freak out because we don't know what to do next after the first directions were given... so many people aren't getting the things they need and it feels like its all topsy turvy.
and frankly, farming salt sounds pretty straightforward I think I could do that constantly nonstop for days until a break on the weekends with good pay and working conditions and safety protocols. Like someone else said, they really need some gear, they get too much salt intake just from walking on the stuff. I'm sure they don't salt their food anyway though so it should be fine. I love the foods they have over there...very herbal and aromatic...fresh and NATURAL...
"Government subsidized solar panels to power the pumps" (starts ancient hit and miss engine), what a legend!
exactly🤣🤣
🤠
They use it to light up their homes at night and charge their smartphones😏
😂
@@Lalalalalkk "Modern day slaves."
Homie playing Fortnite on his PS4 in the background while listening to Doja on his iPhone 11
I’m not saying they are not underpaid but selling for $260 a ton does not mean they are making $260 a ton. If that is what was meant then it is worded wrong and words have meaning. There are many costs along the way between the desert and its final destination of a dinner table or wherever. Many regular workers get paid off that $260 and yes whatever big company takes a cut too.
Not to mention the government(s) need a nice fat tribute usually in various forms both directly and indirectly for each step in the process along the way. Every single last one of those ultimately end up getting paid by the end buyer not the businesses and it'd blow people's minds through an entire process how much that ends up being
Thank you for showing this video. It really opens my eyes on the things we take for granted in places like the united states. something as common as salt, these people are pretty much giving their lives for.
They're brown. Don't care.
Wow. Someone grew up sheltered
@Kaeble You're absolutely right. I don't go to resorts or travel. Unless a person is upper class, or middle class there are more important things to spend money on. My point was that it's easy in the United states of America to forget all the hard work that goes into every day things.
Cuz they get it like monkeys in the 2000s
@@WokenRetard as if they had the means to do it any other way? They're stuck in a loop of perpetual poverty- they don't have enough money to improve the technology or ways of harvesting things, and no one is just giving it to them for free. They're doing it the only way they can. Doesn't really call for an out of touch racist comment
I always thought it's strange how cheap salt is on the shelf when it takes so much effort to mine, harvest, refine, and transport it, and now I know why.
They pay practically nothing to the people actually working for it and send the profits up to the owners, ceos, and gov't instead of the people who give their lives to provide it.
This is a primitive way to do this, you don't buy this salt it is for local use. It costs 4 dollars a ton because that is how much it would cost to buy from big producers.
Salt is extemely easy to harvest. The majority of the planet is harvestable salt water. You can literally leave water out and get salt. That's how the Japanese discovered it. What they are doing in those deserts is "squeezing blood from a stone," ie they are using an objectively lesser technique and are trying to pretend like it's equivalent.
If you harvest a whole field of wheat with scissors, you should not be surprised when your neighbor outperforms your harvest by using a sickle.
@@CaptainHalodude These people are selling their salt for 0,003€/kg. Even a 30 fold increase in what they get wouldn't increase the price by anything really.
@@hendrikheim5665, wait, you're saying that a thirty fold increase in the cost to produce wouldn't increase the consumer market price? Wow!
@@notahotshot Same as x2 or X8. But they'd take a lot more to spend.
When doing international pieces like these, it would be preferable to include unit conversions from imperial units. Nobody outside the US understands 113 degrees Farenheit intuitively, and a piece on Indian economics will draw a wide, multi-national audience if you make it accessible for them.
I think it's like 40 degrees Celsius? Or around that number
It should always be SI units. Only few people know what a 240 mile journey or 113° F tempvactually means.
@@islandsunset exactly!
@@spritemon98 47 turns out! which is intense, and valuable context
@@locklanh aye I was close!! I knew it was 40 something
We have come a long way as Indians, from the the salt satyagraha movement led by Mahatma Ghandi as one of the first stepping stones to freedom, to now providing table salt detergents etc. to the common household, massive respect to these workers, its a shame how little they get paid compared to the industrialists, capitalism at its fines. Stuff like this really humbles me.
Stop street shitting
Almost similar in Indonesia, the price of local farmers' salt is only valued at $ 7 = 1 ton
But because Indonesia needs more salt then the government imports salt from abroad at a price of $70 for 1 ton and this is very crazy.
It's really a sad for local traditional salt farmers and the government is really shit.
The most common salt in the Market is "refina" $1/kg
Bang kita impor garam tambang bukan ngak bisa dibandingkan dengan garam dari petani
this comment is wrong. The government only import the industrial salt, not the consumption. Since the standard of industry is different, that's the reason we import it.
This is State Govt not Central .That's why.Pakistan and China controls minority in India and say we are worried about India
Beda garam yang dari madura dan garam yang diimpor. Kualitasnya beda jauh makanya pemerintah perlu impor. Kalau industri kosmetik dan lainnya pake garam yang kadarnya rendah ya bisa menurun kualitas barangnya.... Coba riset dulu sebelum komentar....
Basically, salt traders deliberately underpay the salt farmers who then have to borrow from the salt traders to get by. The salt traders will then jack up their prices by 60 times per ton when selling the salt compared to what they bought the salt from the farmers eg farmers may sell a ton of salt from $2-5 but the traders will sell at $120-300 per ton.
Yeah, what's wrong with that? Problem is these people don't come together to form a union. Welcome to the NOMAD life. Oh and Capitalism. Isn't money great !!!
this is how the upper classes have always exploited the lower classes in india. worse than most places.
@@theCosmicQueen This is how Capitalism works-- this isn't just India. Replace the caste system with working-class/poor vs ruling-class/rich and it's the same thing.
so many angry poor people, good luck
@@hognosemyan Nah, a capitalist would industrialize and 95+% of the workers farming salt would loose the job, while he would take a greater cut in the end.
Salt facilities are highly efficient in other parts of the world. Those workers are lucky that their work is stigmatized and the government declared the zone a national reservoir where only they can work.
And a lot of people here talk about salt prices in their local markets, be it indians or others. That's the consumer end price, with trader loss of 20-25 % mass loss just because they deliver inpure salt and further processing is needed, like said in the video. Then his transport cost, labour cost, factory cost, profit margin, taxes. Then it's sold to a distributor which has the same costs besides processing, or directly to a bigger market, with again market labour cost, taxes, needed profit.
They certainly don't live an easy life, but it's not a job where you get rich nor can they compere in production with others besides with low wages. In the end, they do their job like it was done for over a century. Somewhat reminds me of a lot of business insider dokus about other fields were people struggle in an industy by working in todays world like their grand grand parents did.
Thanks business insider for raising this issue, I always wondered why 0.5 kg salt was so cheap.
The way you work the land is amazing
$4 a ton is outrageous😥
Yes not salty priced
It's 3rd world country
It's 3rd world country w
Too cheap
@@ackermanlevi3265 even in india its way too cheap. they should be atleast paid 10 times this
This makes me sad that I can walk literally over to my local grocery and buy a giant bag of salt for a few dollars or ship it from amazon without even moving from my spot right now. Meanwhile these people spend their 6 months slaving away just get paid $4 dollars a ton. Horrible.
The cost of living is less in there country. People in Mississippi get paid less than the people in New York because the price of living is less in Mississippi than New York.
@@gerald4027 As an Indian, it's still so low that it's disgusting that they get paid that little. Beggers in India can get more for less work. This really is nothing. I'm shocked that this is even sustainable.
Yes, you can live on less money here, but you still need SOME money right?
@@gerald4027 just look at how they’re living. you think 4 dollars is enough for them?
@@Jose-wd6kn its almost like this video gives a negative depiction of their situation so that they will get more clicks.
You're giving them a job they obviously prefer to everything else.
These families could, literally, make more money by doing anything else. The Indian government should put a stop to this abusive process.
Or, since their method is so destructive, simply put a stop to it. There are other ways of getting salt.
You are making too much sense
The poor must be allowed to, freely without paying even according to their ability, use government land and public resources(groundwater) to make a profit.
@Block Lord Ok but then atleast stop the cretin from reproducing and brining more creatures like themselves to a miserable existence.
Salt you eating is demand and so the supply.. so will you stop eating salt.. ?loose remark is good to say but think deep .. real problem is west .. who consume consume and cause problem to developing world..
@pushpa Lol this is what would have happened in new farm laws.
This is what happens when there is no MSP no Mandi and no regulations to protect farmers.
BTW farm laws don't affect salt. Educate yourself.
I would happily pay more for salt. I never knew it took so much work. However not just for more profits I want it to go to the workers.
Your salt doesn't come from these people. Why do you think every poor person in the world is only poor because they're working for pennies to supply you? Jesus. Your self depreciation is a disease on mankind.
I don't think consumers paying more will help. More like the companies should reinvest some of that profit into better equipment for these farmers. Medical too.
lol not me.. its the corporations that need to pay them more and maybe not collect 50m paychecks yearly for a ceo
Salt you consume probably originated in your country. Almost every country has a salt mine. Most US salt comes from Kansas if I recall. They have modern equipment and wages.
@@tylerfricks7369 I was going to say salt lake, Utah 😅 but it's both central utah and Kansas.
That is pretty cool they figured out how to harvest the salt like that. Sucks all that hard work doesnt add to a lot of money. Hopefully they find a way to make everyone happy. Got a new subscriber. Was fun to watch. Great video
"these solar panels power the pump" - starts up petrol engine.
Lami ang magic sarap part
The hit-n-miss Diesel is reliable and very cheap to operate.
its a smokey diesel engine
Lol
Stoppppp!!!!
These people deserve respect and must be payed a livable wage.The Salt "traders" are using the workers! Seeing people being used like this outrages me, it's disgusting!
these people need to move and find work elsewhere.
I got tiny blisters in my hand when i was helping my relatives preparing brine for making salted fish. Fortunately they went away after a day. Can't imagine getting exposed to salt for such a long time
Gosh even the smallest cut hurts when salt get in it. I can only imagine these guys
@@gaberoyalll and they just have to keep going. While going blind 😭
@Sean Hunter How is getting a blister weak?
@@Abyssal2808 Just some guy acting tough on the internet
@@Abyssal2808 because only weak, soft hands can blister. If you work to better yourself your hands literally harden. That's why handshakes have been important, because someone can be dressed up pretty like a Senator but they can't hide how soft their hands are.
It's about doing the work yourself vs forcing other to do things for you. Even fat, rich people can have hard hands if they work for them.
Now after watching this, I have a huge respect for these people 🙏🙏🙏who are the reason we have salt on our plate. On top of that, it's really sad to know😭 that they've to go through so much for that, what's more they're not even getting paid enough.😡
They are the American black people of there land. We know your pain and have walking in your shoes. Fight back against your oppressor's . 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
@@queenmommie8295 if you think american living standards relate to this at all your delusional
Well according to law they are not suppose to harvest salt there as mentioned in the video if this was China they would have been jailed as the matter of fact. Government of India made a silent pact with the farmers but Traders like Rafeeq are putting the farmers in debt trap.
@@GopalSingh01 More like the American Indians, land that was taken from them. Period. Watch the video again.
@@queenmommie8295 lmfao
Good to see Business Insider creating content from my home state, love to see such insights which even i cant see living back there, good to see people talking my language Gujarati, good coverage, hope something good will happen to these peoples lives soon
Why are all the hard working people being treated so poorly? Meanwhile streamers sit all day in a chair being stupid and making more money than anyone who is being productive and contributing to society :(
Weird nudge at streamers, they’re entertainers for tons of people. Salt guys just deserve equal treatment, they both serve billions of people and should be rewarded fairly.
They should make Inuit style eye protection to prevent snow/salt blindness (eg narrow eye slits cut into wood or bone goggles)
do u think they are smart enough?
@@crispysocksss why do you ask?
@@crispysocksss even buying $1 sunglasses would help, but nobody was wearing any
Pretty sad some go blind from the sun reflection, they should include some cheap sunglasses along with the boots they provide.
@@crispysocksss Implying Eskimos are smart?
As someone who likes to study culture and the financial imbalances in the world I appreciate all these documentaries you guys make ❤️
This is what farm laws were there to adress this issue of farmers being exploited by the merchants/middleman .... but i guess the story continues ..millions of such farmers have seen no change in their dire situation
Congress/CPI(M)/AAP are more dangerous for India than Pakistan or China.
arrey bhai woh govt. mandi ke liye tha, this is different.
Lol this is what would have happened in new farm laws.
This is what happens when there is no MSP no Mandi and no regulations to protect farmers.
No farmers who actually are farmers are exploited by people who claim to be farmers, the recent protest against farm laws were done by people who weren't farmers to begin with.
With this farm laws . All MSP crop farmers will become new Agariayas. Here Agariayas facing problem of business cartelization and no MSP problem. They are asking MSP.
I was wondering where Square got the inspiration for the Rosalians in Triangle Strategy, and I have to say....it's terrifying to think people are suffering like this in something that isn't fiction...
They deserve the proper foot, hand and eyewear to be protected as they harvest an essential item. Iodine in the salt has the ability to improve the immune system. And even salt that lacks iodine helps regulate certain hormones when consumed moderately.
an essential item which is produced with far more efficient means elsewhere and has a very low demand compared to other commodities due to the ammount that can be produced with little effort. they deserve to move on to better industries which are sustainable and actually provide enough value to produce a living wage.
They need help from the government to move out of the salt industry. It's literally produced everywhere in the world and without the need of these poor working conditions. It's why they don't make very much money from it in the first place
@@mp40submachinegun81 They should be forcibly sterilized.
Yea, like maybe one of the four shirts every dude wears "for the decency of God."
Like, does your God really care that much about how many shirts you wear? How about cutting up one of those to make a pair of sandals?
@@mp40submachinegun81 how much they're making is actually above the average indian salary by twofold.
As one of the most common minerals on earth, salt mining is a hard game even for commercial ventures with massive mechanized vehicles and modern equipment. This here is the definition of “piss poor”.
And I imagine what salt does to the equipment just drains what little profits are to be made
not piss poor - lacking in knowledge.
those boys are dressed better than most inner city kids ;)
@@agnidas5816 Now you're just reaching it.
@@ianthompson2802 We have a salt mine in town and as a millwright I am told to bring cheap tools into the mine. Once the tools reach the surface they instantly rust from the salt/moisture
That's crazy, if the farmers could simply refine the salt themselves they would go from the bottom of their society to the top. The people at the top know this and use every tactic they can to keep them poor. Human nature at it's finest.
I love these videos - truly eye-opening! wish Business Insider would include a way for us all to donate directly to the subjects of their videos. Would love the opportunity to give directly to people like this
I am from same state and know about them but the harsh conditions I didn’t have any clue before this video .
$4per ton is just inhumane. How the hell are they supposed to live?? 🤦🏻♀️😪
They're not. They weren't supposed to be born. These creatures exist because India fucked over an entire state by the introduction of water and fertilizer intensive breeds of grain crops, the state in question being punjab; and because India legalised Pharma Intellectual Property Theft.
These 2 things caused such a huge explosion in the population of that 3rd world socialist hellhole that the entire world will suffer the consequences till the day the last human dies.
Let me introduce you to a magical concept called cost of living
They evidently live. Otherwise it would cost 5 dollars.
@@dv9239 well you can obviously research the cost of living/economy of India and realize that the payment is still far too low.
I agree to pay Double or even the 4 times the Price I am paying at present for salt
But, Agharia community should get a fair price for their hardwork
$4 or ₹308 for 1000 kgs of Salt, it is outrageous
That's exactly what I was thinking.
With inflation in the US, I’m good.
"fair price"
It is a fair price. Their work is not even remotely valuable and the methods they use to extract it are horrible inefficient.
Salt is not rare. Salt workers are not rare. Nothing about their job is necessary.
@@LaFonteCheVi
You've placed such low value on their lives so flippantly. Did it even enter your mind that it's necessary for them to survive?
@@LaFonteCheVi yes, salt is the most abundant resource after the air, the water and the Soil on this planet
So, I will suggest you, to spend a week without consuming any type of Salt or Salt containing edibles
And share your experiences with us ,in this the same comment section
It's only a matter of a weak, and today is Sunday, so you can start from tomorrow, and share your experience on next Sunday
Thank you for covering this issue! There needs to be a better system where the salt farmers are not exploited and the environment is protected.
there is. its called stop doing it. its clearly not a sustainable business. they arent exploited as much as they are making a low quantity of a poor quality product, in an environmentally destructive manner. they simply should not be doing it.
@@ravener96 The workers are financially exploited, as the video explains, through a predatory loan system.
@@VeganDoris then stop doing the thing that doesent earn enough money in the first place.
@@ravener96 Ah, yes, if only poor people would stop doing the thing that doesn’t earn enough money in the first place…
@@VeganDoris yes. plenty of activities dont earn enough money to live doing, which means you need to find something else to do. crushing rocks with a sledgehammer is backbreaking, but im not going to earn much money by selling crushed rock made that way.
Bless these souls who make our lives better. I can’t begin to express my gratitude. I hope their lives improve.
I never knew there were such things as " farming salt". I guess I will have to appreciate salt next time I use it.
Where exactly do you think it came from?
@@claverse5478 From the great holy salt of everlasting life trees you dork. Where else could salt come from?🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓
@@claverse5478 from seawater and from underground salt mines. i think more salt for human consumption is produced from these than from desert salt farming as shown here.
Thousand of years of nature for just a couple of dollars!? Wow!
Wdym?
You're pitying the salt bro?😂
Thats india
Well it’s better then salt being worth the same as gold
@@johnl.7754 check your history. Salt was more valuable than gold at one time.
@@haggielady I know that’s why I gave that example
My sympathy goes out to the hard working people providing the rest of the world with common goods.
much respect to these hard working people!
mind blowing episode... our stress compared to them is nothing in todays world
I disagree.
I hope there would be a labor mobility for these working class. Thank you for this work of art you all do. You are all amazing.
These solar panels powering the pump are amazing, especially when they started up the 1920s hit and miss engine to power the pumps.
I have a new appreciation for salt
Its amazing all the ways salt is harvested. Some is so compact its cut into bricks for lining the walls of curing rooms and some ends up on the street to melt snow.
Government should establish a cooperative for salt farmers simar to those established for dairy farmers in India and in Western countries.
That's why GST is necessary like why VAT exists?
Or maybe crack down on anti-competitive pricing on behalf of salt traders. Through price negotiation between dealers and suppliers a market price is established, such is the nature of a market based system.
@@lmy2366 that is very hard to prove and to enforce. A simpler solution that would probably be cheaper than the legal costs of enforcing that law would be a cooperative, and would probably be self financing once up and running.
We already have successful dairy cooperations, eg-Amul, it's the biggest dairy company here in India, there are thousands of local brands too. And yes I think there should be some promotion for salt also. I lived in this state (Gujarat) and they are lovely people, actually here they are known for their trade so when I saw this video I was actually shocked, I visited this place, there used to be a huge annual carnival and thousands of people used to come, sad to see these people exploited. I wish they get their fair amount of money.
@@Defeng67 It is not at all hard to prove. If you purchase the salt for sixty times less than what you resell it for, that is very indicative of illegal activity. How do you think such laws are prosecuted here?
I'm struggling to understand the $260 per ton figure... table salt is like 3-5 dollars for a cannister that weighs a pound. 50lb bags of water softening salt cost like 30 bucks. Rock salt for melting ice is like 20 bucks for a 30 lb bag... where can I get this $260 per ton salt?
Wholesale price I’m guessing
Mostly at wholesale markets.
@@nuggets0717 Not only Wholesale price, but wholesale volume minimums - you probably have to buy train car loads to get it at that price.
You have to be a scumbag salt dealer to get it at $0.13 per pound. This video broke my heart. The Argiyazy people deserve so much better than we all are treating them.
Your prices SUCK.
Sam's club here in the US sells table salt for $1.46 for 4lbs. Water softener salt is $7 for a 40-50lb bag. Are you shopping whole foods perhaps?
Salt fields are a real bad idea. The salt gets carried away by the wind, into fertile land, it kills the plant growth, which is why areas outside salts farms don't grow plants.
Yes it salts 🧂 everything around 🥣🍲🍚
Yes, and it doesn’t promote biodiversity!
salting the ground the original war crime
not that there are a lot of plants growing nearby
that's why it's in the middle of a desert?
Honestly thankful for all the delicious meals these people have brought me hope they bring ethics to this business
Indians watching this video: OMG they should be paid moree 😭😭😭
Indians when salt prices increase: WTH is govt doing😠😠😠😠
How much does salt cost where you live man?
You noticed how salt sells for $240 a ton and the farmers get paid $4? How about paying the farmers $100 and $140 for the middle man. That keeps the price of salt the same.
Salt doesn't cost that much bro
Are you buying it in tons??
Don't write anything just for the sake that you will get likes
@@blazingguyop you forgot that this is India where a person can kill another one for a samosa
@@martisbvk who will run the refineries if u stop paying middle man??? R they not doing business?
@@GauravSharma-dy8xv Sorry are you living in parallel universe? A man kills other for a fookin samosa? 😑
I wonder what would happen if a fair-trade group were to pay $12/ton for the raw salt, and they had a desalination station for their fresh water needs 🧐. Perhaps small desalination stations could help with salt production, and the fresh water could be put into underground reservoirs. The tribesmen could be trained to operate and manage them, and have a skillset that is applicable in other industries too.
You gonna pay for that ?
Best you can do is not buy the salt let it all business die
The something new can arise
There’s a market for fair-trade coffee, fair-trade chocolate…I suspect that these same folks would also buy such salt.
@@michelleboyle6497 and fair-trade bananas !
"Fair trade" is such a scam. We exploit these people heavily for our benefit
You will die quickly by assasin sended by local traders cartel
K, so I’ve learned something here- I was about to make a snarky comment mansplaining that whatever the researcher who ostensibly lived with the salt farmers was researching, it couldn’t have been the chemistry and geophysics of salt production, because I was sure that the brine they are working with would have to be alkaline, not acidic, based on my experience in agricultural contexts with the pH of saline soils created by surface evaporation of groundwater aquifers under artesian pressure. In that context the terms Saline and Alkaline are used pretty much interchangeably, as the salt deposits created that way are pretty much always significantly above 7 in pH, at least in my corner of the planet. I decided I should google the topic a bit before clicking the send button on my snarky comment, just in case my Dunning Kruger syndrome was showing again and there might turn out to be something I didn’t know on the subject. Lo and behold, the first thing which came up was a scholarly article on the formation of acidic groundwater brines in parts of Australia. Not sure whether similar geography and chemistry are at play here, but it’s fascinating to me that such a thing as acidic groundwater brine can even exist.
Neat. I was about to make the same comment about acidic instead of alkaline. I wonder the chemistry involved here is. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for showing the conditions of one of the Untouchable Community of india
These people are known as Dalits and they face physical abuse, Discrimination, Oppression, no healthcare and education, this happens to them everyday in india and Nepal.
118°F = 47.78°C thank you so so much for the reference
I'm confused. Near the beginning they mentioned the water has 10 times more saline than sea water but near the end they fear extracting too much ground water. Are people meant to be using super salinated water for some other purpose?
The idea is that the water percolates into nearby areas
water can flow underground. perhaps when they lower the groundwater level in the salty area, non-salty groundwater flows in from areas around it. they certainly are evaporating a lot of water.
@@Ass_of_Amalek That true, but they also said the rainy season is like 4 months. Shouldnt that be replenishing ground water? just my thoughts.
@@michaelharipersad9882 this isn't not amazon rainforest, rains in deserts will take a lot time (hundreds or thousands of years) to replenish ground water.
Wait, you mean Insider might lie to people? Like saying the pumps are powered by solar but immediately show a gas powered engine? Or show clips suggesting they build some of it by hand when clearly you can see machine marks on the trenches?
It's worth it getting these people sunglasses and other reusable items to make their lives a little easier. And preferably easy to fix, and cheap
Instead of selling their whole production to industries, they should process some of their own salt in ancient labor intensive way and sell them to consumers and stores as a novelty product in 1 kg packs. That way they can earn a lot from a portion of their product with little sale.
Needs a starting capital to do this and these people can't even afford a 22$ tool, so it's impossible for them.
Sounds like the government gives them just enough to keep going, but not enough to get out.
The thing is, there is a heavy take through the inefficiency of everyone wanting a big cut of the price that causes these massive price hikes.
A good example was a company here sold coffee, one had an "ad" that stated if you bought this package of coffee you would give approx 30 cent extra on the price to the farmer.
Now the other coffee from the same brand that didn't do this really showed the "cost" they took to provide this.
It wasn't just 30 cent more expensive, or 60 or 1 dollar, but almost 3 dollars more expensive...
$4 dollar a ton to $260?! That is a 6500% increase...There is middlemen and logistics involved, but not 65x surely.
This documentary is good in showing the life of others. To appreciate our own.
If it is not for these workers salt would be more expensive for some areas of thr world.
But this is just normal jobs
It is part of life
I wonder if anyone can tweet this link to the PMO and Narendra Modi’s Twitter account, along with Amitbhai and even the entire Indian cabinet if necessary. Sometimes our leaders simply don’t get the information, given how busy they are managing a huge country of 1.3 billion people. But I do believe our political leaders and civil servants at the center are good people and if something like this is brought to their attention, steps to remedy injustices will be taken on an urgent basis. Not everybody has the mindset to go on dharna and block highways outside Delhi to demand rights. And in instances like this, it is WE as Indians who must take proactive steps to bring such matters to the attention of appropriate authorities and seek remedy and justice as fellow Indians and fellow human beings.
If the salt is so cheap to buy why there aren't more salt factories there? They could make a cooperative to refine the salt themselves.
Even if they formed a cooperative, I doubt they could ever come up with the money necessary to build a salt refinery. It's also unlikely that they could even form a cooperative to begin with, since they don't own the land or water they're farming.
Where would the money come from for the co-op? More loans to put them deeper in debt?
The Government of India is to blame for this. The middle men too.
Exactly, Joseph is right. These people are too poor and weak. Furthermore, companies kill any possibility to form such groups as they don't want to loose on the market. I am an Indian and except milk production, no cooperative has ever succeeded in India. Milk too succeeded only because the govt. stepped in and helped to build such cooperatives.
How is farming salt in the same exact spot for over one hundred years depleting ground water if the price for their salt increases? Didn't the documentary say the ground water there is saltier than the sea? Wouldn't that mean this particular water is only good for harvesting salt since salt water cannot be used to grow plants? I think they just don't want those people to break away from perpetual slavery or poverty.
Godzilla had a stroke trying to understand and fricckin died
Yes it is much saltier than the sea but obviously that salt isn't infinite. That's why they're having to drill deeper and deeper and use more and more water. Eventually the salt in that area will run out but most likely the water will be long gone before it.
@@RapTapTap69 there is way more salt than they can ever harvest. But yeah they will run out of water soon
they said it was after the monsoon rains
I'm so glad that someone else caught that ridiculous statement. It's so common that SJWs catch themselves in logical inconsistencies simply by talking.
If hard work equated to success these guys would be rich. Unfortunately no matter where you go success boils down to, luck, talent, connections, ownership....
That's poor people mentality like yours. Smart work is what makes people rich.
@@edenassos leave
@@ShadNex Don't breathe
@@edenassos Is that what your boss told you so you do some unpaid overtime?
@@videogamebomer My boss is me. I have my own businesses because I know what is working smart instead of hard. You, you seem like you will be poor your entire life.
Was going to ask how I got here. But it's quite simple, I saw a video of how technology is made and the lie we've been told by the big tech companies. This crap is just insane, and someone needs to do something about it. These videos make you grateful for what you have. If you're going to complain about an item, try going out there and helping to make it.
That salt trader guy talking about their not bound to him, they can sell to anyone else 👀 like the salt farmers have a choice in the prices 😤 the nerve of that guy! They have to get what they can get in order to survive!
Outrageous!
I take it you've never asked for a raise, nor negotiated a better deal for yourself.
Breaks my heart to see such hard working people get exploited by businesses (especially since they have a higher chance of getting sick in the process).
Can you add a link to donate directly to the salt farmers? (Please like for visibility)
unfortnately its pretty much impossibe to ensure that funds go directly to them. all you can really do is visit them and donate directly :/ obviously not feasible for 99% of people
The location is a desert, the degrees in fahrenite good job narrator
All the salt farmers need to get unionized, and work with the government, so that distributors can only buy the farmers product from one seller.
You are an fool. The unionization part, fine. I doubt it would work but sure, people should have that freedom.
But the government and unions FORCING distributors to buy for specific sellers? You are a Grade-A fool. It's like you've learned nothing from history as to why that is a catastrophically bad idea that would lead to everyone being poorer except for the person controlling such a corrupt racket.
All that would achieve is the price of salt skyrocketing (and everything that uses salt) and creating a poorly functioning monopoly.
Wow they won't negotiate for better prices nor pack up and do something else, so the answer is getting the Indian government to point guns at their business partners and force them to lose money? Okay, Marx.
Thats so sickening. Imagine paying them 3 times that, wouldnt make a dent for the traders but improve their live alot
businesses which trade commodities like salt run on really tight margins.
y'all ignorant af
You have no idea whether that would ruin the traders' business or lives. Everyone in the situation is trying to live as best as they can and some are just more successful. That should not be sickening to you.
The country you’re born into is pure chance. Your work ethic is up to you. Props to these folks.
That is true in capitalist countries India poverty is the norm socialism is hell
Meanwhile "Cuban Chain Jewelers" in Miami trying to convince people their job is hard that's why it costs so much
I never understood these kinds of deep inland salt-farms. I understand that costal areas are generally more expensive land-wise, but creating tributaries from the ocean that have canal like flow controls would allow salt-farms to be produced year round, within close distance of amenities for the farmers, easier routes for delivery, and very low environmental impact since they would be using sea-water from nearby.
Digging large canals would be expensive, but salt is one of the most consumed resources world-wide and an investment like that would pay-off immensely. I know that a lot of places wouldn't want to front the cost - and people like these Agariya certainly can't afford that investment, but the government wants to protect the region and is already sponsoring them a bit anyway which means they value their salt production.
Gone are the visionaries like Ford, Eisenhower, or Rockfellers. They put money and time where their mouth is.
I think the practical problem is that the relative humidity is usually too high in coastal regions. Salt production needs a very low relative humidity to create a high rate of evaporation. There are coastal areas with low relative humidity, but people don't live there, just like the desert.
The brine they dig up is more concentrated than seawater.
@@seunosewa Which would still be the case if you diverted large amounts of seawater to a reservoir, let it evaporate, and harvested the salt. As long as you control the outflow of water, the resulting concentration of salt will only ever increase. This happens with inland lakes all the time, where because water isn't flowing out to the ocean, it simply increases in salt concentration.
The only issue is the time it takes for the water to evaporate, which in more humid climates will take a lot more time than in arid climates. But working on bigger scales would significantly offset this issue.
@@daemn42 You are right, and it would take some work to find the right conditions for such an operation. I can't help but think it would be more efficient than what these guys are doing however.
Sounds like this market is ready for a shakeup if the profits are really that high for the people buying from the farmers. Some people should easily be able to pay the farmers double or triple, sign long term exclusivity contracts and make safe money while marginally improving farmers lives.
Unless others start using automated means for the salt pans. The whole process is not hard to automate tbh., only those low wages keep it from happening since initial investment will be somewhat high and operators skilled in maintaining and operating those machines need to be trained/organized first. The natives will most likely not be those people.
@@Rotblattchinchilla12 the points you raised are probably why this system continues with significant human labor; automating it would incur significant up front costs as well as higher costs for relatively higher skilled laborers to operate the machines. I think even just someone with enough capital to outbid the current buyers for the existing labor pool could result in a win-win for the newcomer and the current laborers.
@@SergeiTheAnarch yeah and no one is doing it after 5 million people viewed this video which means Business Insider just tried making the refiners look bad. Remember, this family makes $4,000 after 6 months of work. The title says $4 a ton. So 1,000 tons of salt probably take a lot more labor to refine & package & market. Those factories probably have more significant upfront cost than getting the salt and they make 60x more. Then in the US, I recently bought 4 pounds of salt for $4 so that means they're making 500x more. So that means if you believe any of this, you stand to make up to 500x so literally anyone remotely smart would do it OR this video is untrue.
It's wild how this is compelling enough to make interesting documentaries but not compelling enough to even consider paying another cent for salt
There are lots of modes of transportation, airboats could transport them in the muddy season, wheeled when its drier. Yes I know money is an issue. But there are ways to make these peoples lives better
This is heartbreaking. Makes you value the little that you have.
So damn true 😊
“this rake cost 22 dollars too expensive for many of the farmers” too cheap for most of us
They're brown. Don't care.
Shame on the people who exploit these brave workers.
This makes me grateful that i’m not stuck in a poverty trap and I feel very sorry for everyone who is
Very hard to digest, even with loads of salt. Traders and Middlemen are exploiting these poor people and gov is mum . Same with tea garden workers in Assam .
Welcome to Capitalism, 'it's the only system that works™'
It's not exploitation. No one has a gun pointed at these people. The salt farmers are poor negotiators.
@@VinnyBloo theyre 'poor negotiators' therefore they deserve literal enslavement ok
@@VinnyBloo then you don't understand the meaning of exploitation. You don't need a gun to exploit someone.
@@VinnyBloo Knights usually didn't go around putting a sword to random peasants in feudalism either. If a system is structured to force people into poverty labor with minimal other prospects, while the product of their labor makes a certain class of people who don't do the work comparatively wealthy, that is a class system designed to exploit the workers of that society by its very nature. in this case, this is Neo-Colonial style Global Capitalism, enforcing conditions in which these salt farmers are putting in a tremendously huge amount of effort to only get $4 a ton, which is a tiny fraction of what their effort actually gets sold for to western consumers ($1000-$2000 a ton). That $4 a ton only amounts to bare sustenance and not to mention they get horrible illnesses on top of it, while other countries of people live comfortable as a direst result of their labor. These are slave like conditions, just without the direct human ownership part.
Here's the bottom line... the difference between what a final product is sold for to consumers, minus what the people who produced it are paid on a per unit basis, is exploitation. The bigger that difference, the bigger the exploitation. These people are mathematically being hyper exploited .
It's always the little guys who get screwed
Then you have the "Salt Bae" Chef that makes $60 for just dropping salt on One steak.
For the blindness aspect, just wear the stuff that Inuit wear. It’s like glasses but with narrow slits to allow less light through. They can even be made from cheap materials
Edit: they’re called snow goggles but they would work great for preventing blindness caused by the landscape
Also known as sunglasses.
If they were good they would use them. Obviously they wouldnt be since they are not using them.
@@eikeksimimea1071 not sunglasses dumdum. Sunglasses use tinted lenses. Snow glasses/goggles use a much simpler slit in a material.