Hands that polished diamonds mix ‘mavas’ to eke out a living

SURAT: She has given many rough diamonds a glitter by perfect cutting and polishing on an emery wheel. But Madhu Solanki never imagined that one day she would use her hands to slice and pack betelnut, tobacco and lime to that exact ratio so that her 'mava' would sell better and keep her home fires burning. But it turned real three months ago.
What's more. It was a double whammy for the Solankis, when two months later, her husband Haresh, too lost his polishing job. Tucked in a corner of a footpath on the busy road in the diamond hub Varachha, the duo today sells ‘mava’ not only to sustain an everyday living but keep the dreams weaved for their daughters alive.
Many more of their tribe was seen lining footpaths on Gayatri Chowk on Varachha’s Lambe Hanuman Road. About 13,000 jobless diamond workers, retrenched in the last few months as per a Gujarat Diamond Workers’ Union (GDWU) survey, are awaiting good times to sparkle in the beleaguered industry. The ongoing slowdown in the last year has taken the sheen out Surat's glittering diamond industry. The worst-hit are the polishers, who pushed to the brink are struggling to stay afloat doing odd jobs.
The story is not so different for Girish Solanki, 35, another of their ilk, who now ekes a living selling pani puri in Varachha’s Mini Bazaar for the last four months.
And so is Jitu Malanakhiya, 36, who now works as a solar panel fitter earning Rs 7,000 a month, exactly half of what he used to earn as a polisher.
“Our tough polishing routines didn’t leave us the time to upgrade other skills. I chose to sell mava to provide food to my wife and children,” said Dinesh Kachhadiya, who earns Rs 200-300 per day. Not all of them earn as much every day. Their earnings now have not only cut down to less than half, but also unpredictable unlike the fixed monthly salaries of Rs15000-20,000 they earned as polishers.
Vice-president of GDWU, Bhavesh Tank didn't mince his words while talking to TOI: “For unit owners, artisans are a use-andthrow commodity. When market is good, they want workers to sweat it out overtime. During slowdown, they kick them out.”
Tank lamented that the majority of the units, which are not registered with the industries department, don’t even give benefits of provident fund or gratuity to the workers who are paid on a piece-meal basis.
However, unit owners like Ramesh Kalithiya, 46, who was forced to call it day, have their own explanation. "I was forced to shut my unit having 50 emery wheels and 30 workers. The prices of rough were so high that I thought of quitting the business much earlier and yet, I dragged on for six more months paying whatever little I had to the workers.”
In the last year, prices of polished diamonds have slashed between 15%-25% in the international market. Small and medium diamond units in the industry have slashed production of polished diamonds by more than 70%.
GDWU president Ranmal Jilariya, said that the union has submitted a list of 13,000 jobless diamond workers to the prime minister and the chief minister seeking their help in providing financial assistance to the retrenched labourers.