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Producer: Shelly Walia
“I used to earn over Rs 40,000 a month but now my monthly income is down to Rs 8,000-10,000. It has been a year since I was laid off, but unlike other diamond polishers, I decided to open a tea stall. Yet, it doesn’t generate the same kind of income that I need to run my household,” says Jitendra Pavasia.
A former diamond polisher, Pavasia runs the tea stall in the city’s Mota Varacha area, where most of his customers are workers employed at nearby construction sites.
According to the Surat Diamond Workers’ Association, 25 lakh diamond polishers are spread across Gujarat, of which roughly 66,000 have been laid off. There are several external and internal factors at play that has brought the Rs 1.53 lakh crore diamond industry in Surat to its knees.
Several mid-level diamond polishing units have cut production, while small units have completely shut shop.
Acknowledging the slowdown affecting the diamond sector, Dinesh Navadia, president of the Gem Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), the umbrella body for Indian diamantaires, blamed the ongoing trade war between the US and China.
He told The Quint that 95 percent of diamonds polished and cut in Surat are exported.
Navadia also blamed the anti-dumping duty levied by the Trump government on China, which has made Chinese products costlier in the US. The duty has negatively impacted the Indian diamond market as rates of polished diamonds has fallen sharply.
“Rate for polished diamond are not high but the rate for rough diamonds is. This leads to losses for the polishing unit. Therefore, to reduce the production, units will use the rough diamonds in stock instead of buying more, since sales are down due to recession,” Babu Kathiria, president of Surat Diamond Association, added.
Pratik Dudecha, who owns a diamond unit in Surat, told The Quint that production levels were deliberately dropped to cope with recession.
While small and medium diamond polishing units are scraping the barrel by cutting down on production and laying off employees, large diamond units, such as Dharmanandan Diamonds in Surat, have managed to retain their entire workforce.
However, owner Lalji Patel agreed that the sector is severely hit. He added:
The Surat Diamond Association told The Quint that five diamond polishers, who were laid off in the past six months due to the recession, have ended their lives.
Nitaben’s husband was one of them.
Between September and October 2018, 10 diamond workers had killed themselves in Surat, and in the last couple of months, five more have killed themselves. However, the Surat Diamond Association alleged that the police did not mention unemployment or financial burden as the reason for the suicides.
“Police reports on these suicides claim that it was a result of domestic disturbances. There is no report of suicides due to unemployment. Unemployment results in issues at home due to lack of money,” said Jaysukh Gajera, president of Surat Diamond Association.
Amidst the ongoing recession, some diamond workers in Surat have collaborated with diamond traders of Indian-origin in the US to help out the unemployed in Surat.
Before the money is disbursed in the form of food rations, medicines and school fees, a survey is conducted by the diamond traders to ensure that help reaches the needy first.
So far, around 50-70 unemployed diamond workers and their families have benefited.
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