India depends on Pakistan for this key item, its used in almost every Indian home, not rice, vegetables, millets, it is…
India-Pakistan war: Amid escalating tensions after last month’s barbaric Pahalgam terror attack, India has introduced some major diplomatic punitive measures to cripple Pakistan, including placing a a blanket ban on all imports coming in from the neighboring country, effective immediately.
While India is largely a self-sufficient country and the severing of trade ties with Pakistan will not matter much, there is one key item that India used to import from the neighboring country in large quantities, something which is used around 80 percent of Indian homes.
India depends on Pakistan for rock salt
The item we are talking about is rock salt, a key ingredient used in religious ceremonies by Hindus. Rock salt or ‘Sendha namak’ as it is locally called, is a significant item in Hindu culture and traditions for a variety of reasons mentioned in Vedic scriptures.
Rock salt, often called Pakistani salt or Lahori salt, is also used in fasting rituals during Navratri, and is majorly imported from Pakistan because its not found in India. However, in recent years, India has reduced its dependence on the neighboring country for the item by importing it from other nations.
What is rock salt and where is it found?
Known by various other names including sandhav salt, Lahori salt, halite, pink salt and Himalayan salt– rock salt is found in abundance in Pakistan’s Punjab province, where a gigantic salt mine– the second-largest in the world– in Khewra district, churns out a whopping 4.5 lakh tonnes of rock salt annually.
Rock salt is formed when salty sea water transforms into colorful crystals of sodium chloride. and is also called Sendha namak because it is found in the form of large rocks. Another story behind the name Sendha states says the name comes from the Indus River, because its found near its tributaries.
It is also known as Lahori salt or Himalayan salt because Lahore is the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab, and its located in in the Himalayas.
How much rock salt is imported by India from Pakistan?
According to various estimates, roughly 99.7 percent of India’s total rock salt imports come from Pakistan. The other minor imports of the item come from Iran, Malaysia, Germany, Afghanistan, Turkey and Australia.
However, in recent years, India has reduced its dependence on Pakistan for rock salt, largely due to rock salt processing and packaging units are in Kochi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi, which according to estimates, fulfill around 80 percent rock salt requirements in Indian homes.
In Pakistan, due to its abundance, rock salt is sold at around Rs 2-3 per kg, whereas the rare salt sells for Rs 50-60/kg in India.
Besides rock salt, India used to import items such as dry fruits, dates, gypsum, cement, glass, and herbs from Pakistan, while soyabean, poultry feed, vegetables, red chilies, plastic granules and plastic yarn were imported to the neighboring country via land port at the now-closed Attari-Wagah border.
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