SURAT GEM POLISHERS LOSE THEIR SHINE

An exodus of jobless workers, a spate of suicides put a dark gloam on Surat’s crisis-hit diamond industry

- By Jumana Shah

JOBLESSNESS as an occupational hazard? Yes, and it can be fatal, pretty frequently it seems, for those who work the machines in Surat's diamond industry these days.

Last July, Sagar Makwana (21), a polisher, died by suicide after losing his job. Come September, thirtysomething Nikunj Tank went the same way, after a spell of deep depression.

He left behind two children and a wife. May this year saw the death of Kapil Nimavat, 45, another jobless diamond worker with two schoolgoing children. The Diamond Workers' Union of Gujarat (DWUG) cites over 100 deaths in the past three years-55 suicides in the past year alone.

How did we get here? It's a fullblown crisis in the diamond industry. Natural diamond sales saw a severe slump after 2022. Lab Grown Diamonds (LGDS)-70 per cent cheaper-got more popular. Now the global markets are sitting on an unprecedented glut of natural diamonds following a 25-30 per cent wholesale price correction. Over the past three years, manufacturers have had to significantly reduce their output.

In times of such economic distress, the pain primarily flows downward: in this case, the 800,000 diamond artisans of Surat, often migrants from Saurashtra and elsewhere, who form a bulk of the nearly 1.2 million-strong workforce across Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.