ONE mans luxury is another mans livelihood. The livelihoods of several families in Bhavnagar depend on the sale of diamonds. The slowdown in the United States and European markets has reduced the incomes of diamond cutters and polishers by half and many have even lost their jobs as the diamond units have become unviable.
Vishal Gohil, 30, lost his job as a diamond sorter recently as the owners of the unit where he was employed could not afford to pay salaries to the workers. The situation was bad in 2008, but this time it is worse because the rains failed and so we cannot work in the fields either. My father was a tailor. He died in an accident when I was very young. When I was ready to work [this was at age 15], my family sent me to the diamond factory because there was always work available there. I learnt to polish diamonds. After that I moved to the sorting [section]. Those days there was no concept of child labour and there were boys younger than I was who worked in the factory, he says.
We have no land either. I completed my eighth standard and then started working. This is all I know. I was earning Rs.10,000 a month when I lost my job, which was a good pay. Now I get odd jobs and earn wages barely enough to feed a family. Gohil is the only breadwinner in his family.
Asif Sayed, 22, has been a diamond polisher for the past seven years. I do not know any other work. We heard they are reducing the work hours and may close shop for a few months. I dont know what we will do then. He travels 25 kilometres every day to reach the factory.
It is difficult to keep seated at the work table, so from time to time we take a break. Time lost is also money lost. We are paid on the basis of the number of carats polished.
When this correspondent asked the workers and their employers about adherence to labour laws and other factory regulations and payment of minimum wages, the questions were met with blank expressions. No such thing exists, says Sayed.
If one worker quits, someone else will come in his place, at a lower salary perhaps. By the age of 40, workers vision gets affected and so they cant work any more. The employers let them leave, but without any pension. If there is an accident at the workplace, the worker will get some compensation. But there is no guarantee about that.
There are not many alternative sources of income in Bhavnagar and Amreli, says Rohit Patel, a polisher in Amreli. One must go to Alang [ship-breaking yard], or cut diamonds, or do agricultural work. Diamond cutting and polishing is the most secure job, but if the owners say the current climate is not good, I dont know what will happen to all of us.
Anupama KatakamCOMMents
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