Introduction: Salt, Protest and Public Health in Modern India

Salt played a vital role in social, political, economic and cultural life in South Asia. This special issue brings together multiple perspectives on salt, highlighting its place in shaping state policies as well as popular responses in modern India. The present article introduces these perspectives in conversation with existing literature on salt. It attempts to view myriad ways in which colonialism manifested itself and was experienced through the lens of salt, a simple edible substance. In doing so it explores the entangled histories of colonial state-making, economic policies, individual ambitions, legal entanglements, protest and public health in modern India.