Taxing Taste: Health, Nutrition, and the Biopolitics of Salt in Colonial India.
Author(s): 1. Vikas Sharma, 2. Surya Dev Singh
Authors Affiliations:
1. Independent Researcher
2. Independent Researcher
DOIs:10.2015/IJIRMF/202602016 | Paper ID: IJIRMF202602016
The salt tax in colonial India (1835–1947) is examined in this essay as a biopolitical tool that controlled Indian bodies through nutrition and health, combining control over taste, food, and population vigor with economic extraction. It examines how British monopolies on salt production and taxation caused nutritional inadequacies, worsened famines, and represented imperial authority, culminating in Gandhi's 1930 Dandi March, drawing on Foucault's biopolitics. The study uses discourse analysis and archive analysis to show that salt taxation is a method of "taxing taste" that degrades diets and encourages reliance. Results emphasize postcolonial legacies in India's salt policy and resistance through satyagraha.
1. Vikas Sharma, 2. Surya Dev Singh (2026); Taxing Taste: Health, Nutrition, and the Biopolitics of Salt in Colonial India., International Journal for Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field, ISSN(O): 2455-0620, Vol-12, Issue-2, Available on – https://www.ijirmf.com/
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