Sat 21 Mar 2009
India: Gujarat Diamond Workers Suicide in the Face of Crisis
Posted by Juliana Rincon Parra under Balkers
[7] Comments
Dreaming of Diamonds by Swamibu
On the following videos we can see and hear about the situation the Gujarat diamond polishers in India are facing. As the world recession and economic crisis affects their industry, thousands are laid off. Unable to feed their families, pay bills or send their children to school, they have to adjust to living hand to mouth, many are turning to suicide as their last resort. The following video, in English and Hindi was uploaded by students of the IIM Ahmedabad as part of their Socio Cultural Environment of Business course explains the role the diamond polishers of Surat in Gujarat had in the industry, and how they’ve now been cut off the process, leaving formerly bustling factories empty of diamond polishers and replaced with embroidery industry, of which they know nothing about. Highly skilled specialized workers find themselves having to find jobs in different industries, earning much less than before. Their children, who used to attend private schools are now finding themselves barred from presenting exams due to lack of payment:
The situation in Surat is quite serious, as approximately 50% of the diamond cutters and polishers have been laid off. The government is trying to get scholarships to the children of the workers so they can continue their studies. In an Hindustani Times blog, an editorial reads
The impending crisis has another dimension in Surat — while laid-off workers around the world can usually depend on their families to help tide them over, most of the workers here have entire families in diamond polishing, and all risk losing their jobs or having pay cut drastically at the same time.
On Pragoti.org the number of suicides due to the diamond industry crisis is said to be 71:
Even as Modi’s trumpeteers are jumping in joy over the investment figures, at least 71 diamond polishers have committed suicide in Gujarat over the last few months following their laying off due to the global meltdown severely hitting the industry. Modi, who loves to present himself as a ‘common man’, refused to bail out the diamond workers who remained at the mercy of the shrewd traders…
… Apart from the 71 suicides across Gujarat, the situation among the diamond workers has become so grim that there was near stampede outside the Surat Diamond Association where forms for school fees exemption were being distributed.
Diamond polishing is an exact art, on which the rough stone is transformed intro the brilliant gems that grace jewelry all over the world. In the following video, we see a young diamond polishing apprentice polishing his very first diamond after a three month unpaid apprenticeship:
If you would like to know more about the industry, Jobanputra, on the next videos, gives us a tour of the Sanghavi Diamond processing factory where we see and he explains the whole process from rough stone to gem. On the comprehensive four part video tour of the factory he explains how they follow best practices, don’t hire children and ensure their diamonds come from reputable sources and are not “blood diamonds“
Well done Juliana, quite a stark expose of both the terrible ravages of the global recession, and also industrial shifts that were happening even before it.
We have seen many industries lost to the developing world, or gutted by new technologies, etc. But we get very little in the major U.S. media about how these shifts affect real people in other nations. (Owned by wealthy corporate interests, they’ll barely cover domestic hardship circumstances either)
So, these are very important stories to tell – not just for illumination on those hardships, but I think they help us understand our commonalties as workers, wherever we may be stationed in the ever more inter-connected, commercial world.
Thanks for reposting. I hope you do visit the linked videos, they add quite a bit of information to the text!
Thanks for writing it Juliana. The videos are important to the story indeed. They are not something that would be very often aired on U.S. television, with the exception of our publicly and donor-funded network PBS (pbs.org)
And we’ve received some hits from India to B/P, so I hope someone with close proximity to the polishing industry may post their remarks.
It is hard to believe a mere industrial shift, wrecks lives to the point of suicidal hopelessness and starvation. Like India, we also lack an adequate social safety net in the U.S. – we let displaced workers and an underclass of some 20 million, languish unemployed – yet still will rarely have people reach those levels of despair and deprivation.
India has been the recipient of some industry moved from the U.S., but
this story shows how global economic currents can shift anywhere at anytime. And I still say it shows how the experiences and economic interests of workers in all parts of the world, are more connected now.
And for Republicans reading, no that does not connote a socialist theory. With new technologies have incredible capacities now in the modern free-market system, to build new layers of prosperity all over the globe given time enough.
But you’ll never get there, leaving those who power the engine – workers – exposed to total ruin every time market forces change. For we are also
the consumers, whom are essential to a growing demand for goods and
services of all kinds. Leave us unprotected, and the wheels come off of
the consumption economy – as we are seeing precisely in this current
worldwide recession.
Diamonds are still getting bought for engagement rings, but maybe more smaller stones or lower clarity or something. I suppose other jewelry sales are down probably in the recession, or are the rich really broke?
Hello Karen – I hope not! Good question actually because nearly all mutual funds and stock portfolios with normal diversity, are way down over the last 18 months. And so is real estate of course.
But I’m a believer that the U.S. bill for the crisis – now in the trillions for various bailouts and stimulus – should be divided amongst today’s citizens on a pro-rata basis, instead of being passed on to future generations in national debt. That means workers would pitch in some based on the assets they have left / could be deferred over a few years. But the very wealthy, whom I believe remain very wealthy after all devaluations, should be paying the brunt of it – especially after 3 decades of tax holidays they’ve received during the failed Reagan / Bush era.
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