Salt mining leaves bitter taste for Indian workers FEATURE 02/23/2010

Salt mining leaves bitter taste for Indian workers FEATURE 02/23/2010 LITTLE RANN OF KUTCH — In India’s salt-producing heartland, thousands of families — including children as young as 10 — toil in the desert using a harvesting technique unchanged in centuries. India is the world’s third-biggest producer of salt after China and the US, government figures show, and about 70 percent of the 19-20 million tons it produces annually comes from the western state of Gujarat. In Little Rann of Kutch, a barren brown desert and local center of inland salt production, an estimated 200,000 persons work barefoot in extreme hardship, exposed to a relentless sun and a host of occupational dangers.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune ALTERNATE URL: http://www.classicposters.com/commentary/20100223com7.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL No bringing back the Edsa ’86 spirit FRONTLINE Fraudulent polls ahead focus Scientists shed light on sleep through the ages NO HOLDS BARRED Rewriting history AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Put me down for a Pulitzer FEATURE Lebanon’s outnumbered Maronites pull stops on voting age FEATURE Salt mining leaves bitter taste for Indian workers