Diamond production down by 21%; 10K workers lose jobs, salary cuts for others

Surat: On Thursday, January 19, 31-year-old Vipul Jinjala, a diamond worker, consumed poison and ended his life. He is survived by his wife and two children.

His younger brother Paresh told the media that for the last few months his older brother was facing a financial crunch, as along with the rising inflation, salaries were shrinking and it had become difficult for his brother to make the two ends meet and this might have led to his suicide.

Vipul is not the only one, thousands of workers are struggling to meet their family needs, finding it difficult to regularly pay EMIs of housing or vehicle loans, children’s school fees and meeting the daily household expenses, said Ramesh Jilariya, president of the Surat Diamond Workers Union.

According to the union’s rough estimate some 10,000 diamond workers have lost their jobs in the last few months because of production cuts and small units closing down.

The union is demanding that the state should strictly implement labour laws in the diamond sector, which should be covered under the Factory Act, where the labour gets ESCI, provident fund, fixed working hours and other social and health security benefits that other labourers get.

Jilariya’s complaint is that presently diamond workers don’t have any social security, as they are not registered employees, and not getting a salary slip or filing income tax returns, so they don’t get other benefits too.

It is true that production is down by 20 to 21% because during the peak of the Christmas season imports had declined by 18% from America and other countries, explains Vijay Mangukia, regional chairman of the Gems & Jewellery Promotion Council.

According to data, in December 2022 the country’s finished diamond exports stood at $ 2356.70 million, which is a 18.90% decline from December 2021’s $ 2905 million exports.

Because of this, production units have to cut production, admits Mangukia, but disagrees that thousands of labourers are jobless. Production cut is not met by laying off workers, instead, units have reduced working hours from 12 to 10 or 8 hours and instead of one weekly off, now units give 2 weekly offs.

Jilariya countered this explanation and alleged that because of the cut in working hours and increased weekly offs, workers cut and polish less diamonds. Since their salaries are linked to pieces and performance, these steps are proving disastrous for the workers.

Not a single diamond unit has closed down in the last two to three months, claimed Nanubhai Vekariya, president of the Surat Diamond Association. On the contrary he claimed that an unnecessary hue and cry is being made over the recession, whereas industry is working at 100 percent capacity. According to Vekariya 3000 units are employing 7 lakh workers in Surat.
IANS

EAM Jaishankar on US visit from June 30; to attend Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on July 1

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar will be on an official visit to the US from June 30-July 2, at the invitation of US Secretary of State Marco...

India rejects Pak Army’s claims on Waziristan suicide attack, says statement deserves contempt

New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Sunday strongly rejected the Pakistan Army's claim that India was behind the Waziristan suicide bomber attack, which killed 13 soldiers. "We...

Deepening partnerships across continents, PM Modi set to embark on five-nation tour next week

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a five-nation visit starting July 2, visiting Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, and Namibia, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced...

India slams Yunus govt in Bangladesh over demolition of Durga temple, says extremists were clamouring to destroy it

New Delhi: India on Thursday strongly condemned the demolition of the Durga Mandir (temple) in Dhaka, criticising the role of Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in allowing the destruction and projecting...

India wanted concerns on terrorism reflected in document: MEA on no adoption of Joint Statement at SCO meet

New Delhi: Hours after the Defence Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) failed to adopt a joint statement following their meeting in China's Qingdao on Thursday, India said that...

SCO members must condemn evil Pahalgam attack unequivocally: Defence Minister Singh in China

Qingdao (China): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has called on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) members to unequivocally condemn the evil and dastardly Pahalgam terror attack in India's Jammu and Kashmir...

Russian FM meets Tharoor, highlights restoring work of RIC troika

Moscow: Member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor, currently on a tour of Russia, met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the prestigious Primakov Readings, an annual meeting...

The West Asia Crisis: How does India stand?

New Delhi: Just 12 days after hostilities erupted in West Asia, with Israel abruptly opting to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and remove its top leadership, the cross-fire has ceased, equally...

In Beijing, NSA Doval urges SCO countries to shun double standards in fight against terrorism

Beijing: Spotlighting the barbaric Pahalgam terror attack and India's subsequent Operation Sindoor to dismantle terror infrastructure across the border, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday called for the urgent...

Operation Sindhu: 219 Indian nationals from Iran, 161 from Israel arrive in Delhi

New Delhi: A total of 380 Indian nationals -- 219 from Iran and 161 from Israel -- arrived safely in New Delhi on Tuesday as part of the government's ongoing...

Iran moves to suspend cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog IAEA

  Tehran: Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said that the legislature is moving to approve a plan to suspend Tehran's cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog, as tensions intensify...

PM Modi speaks with Iranian President, calls for immediate de-escalation

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday and reiterated call for immediate de-escalation and diplomatic measures to restore regional peace in the Middle-East....

Read Previous

Rapido flays Maharashtra ban on bike aggregators, may challenge it

Read Next

Thousands of Israelis protest against judical reforms

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com