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Another diamond worker committed suicide on Monday. Around nine cases of deaths have already been registered in the last fifteen days from this labour intensive industry. So grave is the situation that the NGOs, which were earlier working for HIV/AIDS affected people, have now shifted their focus on counselling the diamond workers on livelihood.
The NGOs maintain that labourers, at present, are worried about their livelihood and are not bothered about health issues. The NGOs are counselling them, calling them to the Surat Civil Hospital, as well as referring them to doctors so that their suicidal tendencies can be curbed.
For instance, the Sarvangi Vikas Trust, which works for people with HIV/AIDS, has taken up counselling in Katargam, Varachha, Kapodara, Mahidharpura, and Puna gam to provide them “moral support” to fight these turbulent times. “At this time they are not ready to listen to any health issues,” said Dinesh, a Consultant with the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO).
Navnirman Trust has been working on HIV/AIDS issues. But now, they are working on the livelihood issues of diamond workers. “We counsel them to take up alternative jobs in textile companies,” said Ajaysinh Rajput, president of the trust. Ekta Yuvak Mandal, another NGO, is also helping the diamond workers.
The diamond industry provides employment to over 10 lakh people in Gujarat.
Owing to the global economic slump, the industry is facing a severe crisis. It is yet to come out of the extended vacation and the fear of large-scale retrenchment looms large. Psychologists opine that age, lack of education and lifestyle are some of the reasons inciting the workers to take the extreme step.
“The average age of diamond cutters and polishers is between 15 and 30 years. Most of them are school dropouts and have no other skills,” said Gaurang Jani, a social psychologist and professor in Gujarat University.
“They are habituated to the work and are sentimental about it. Every diamond worker dreams of having his own unit one day. When the dream shatters, they take the extreme step,” Jani added.
Workers in the diamond industry are also better paid compared to their counterparts in the textile and other industries. This is also the reason why many do not prefer to switch to jobs involving high labour but low pay.
Professor KK Sharma, the director of the Indian Institute of Diamond said some of them do go to textiles but their sentiments remain with the diamond industry. “During crisis, the employer should not run away from his responsibilities. He should keep a corpus that can sustain this kind of crisis. That’s the only alternative.”
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It is a great failure of Hindu spiritual leaders that they are not able to inspire patience among the working classes, farmaers and industrial laboureres. Preachers like Morari Bapu, Ojha, Sri Sri Ravi Shanker should hold speacial satsand among the workers, to prevent this great depression that has set in the hearts of the daily wage earners. It will be a great service to Ram and Krishna if these preachers, who have a massive hold on the average Hindu, can take up this challenge. A hopefull Hindu,