Gem polishing is predominantly a household industrial activity and the job is mostly carried out in the unorganised sector. Although Surat is the largest manufacturing hub of gem and jewellery in India, Jaipur takes the credit of polishing 95% of coloured jewels in India. Gem polishing is a job name given to a set of activities ranging from sorting of imported gem stones to its marking, cutting and polishing. For the marking and cutting jobs, skilled workers with agility acquired through long years of service is essential and the skilled workers in gem polishing industry in Jaipur are known the world over for their dexterity and nimbleness?most of them working in small units. In fact, our survey showed that 67% of the units employ less than 10 workers and 58% of the total units have less than five workers.
The global economic meltdown impacted the gem polishing industry in myriad ways but the closure of units was the least preferred option. Our survey shows that even as the crisis aggravated, except for a few tiny units, most manufacturers opted not to close down or stop production, but maintain their activities at a low key till the situation improved. Only 5% of the units have downed shutters and that too because their earnings dipped to such a low level that made it difficult to meet the subsistence requirements of their families.
However, 55% of the units did retain their workers, even though the production was downsized substantially. Small and middle level traders revealed that they had not closed down their units because ?it did not look ethical to abandon those workers who had been with them even for generations. And moreover, it wouldn?t be that easy to get skilled workers like markers and cutters once we leave them?.
Even though the exports to the UAE, the second largest export market, has picked up to the pre-recession levels, the largest market, the US, is still under rough weather. Even though traders and exporters are firm in their resolve to not go in for a price war and undercut each other in the wake of recession, the scenario remains uncertain in a highly competitive market where different forms of tacit and implicit agreements are worked out between buyers and sellers. And the risks are high, as any cuts made now would make it very difficult to push up the price once the situation improves.
What is even more interesting is that the response of the gem polishing industry to the crisis varied with the type of their activities too. As the demand for products fell, single family member-run gem polishing units first withdrew from the job to look for other avenues of livelihood. The other category which clubbed family labour with hired labour replaced their hired labour with family members or downsized their scale of operations to save the wage part of the production cost. Daily wage rate (if piece rate is converted to time wage) in the gem polishing industry varied from Rs 100 to Rs 300 per worker depending on the type of work performed.
As the crisis aggravated, polishing units reduced the number of skilled workers too. For instance, the proportion of gem polishing units employing 1-5 skilled workers has increased from 58% to 79% while the share of large units with more than 10 skilled workers have reduced from 40% to 10% during the crisis period as compared to the pre-crisis period.
The global economic meltdown-driven crisis in the gem polishing industry has had a more severe impact on workers than on manufacturers. In our sample size of 175 labour households, as many as 75% reported changes in their working conditions, including wage reduction, decline in days of employment and increase in working hours. As the workers in the industry are mostly the urban poor and migrants from states like West Bengal, they have little avenues to switch jobs, and so are forced to remain in the same vocation while agreeing to the new, harsher and unilaterally imposed conditions of their employers.
The decline in employment days coupled with a fall in wage rate did erode the wage incomes substantially, which has had a substantial impact on their consumption patterns.The fall in incomes forced the workers to spend less on education of their children and most girl children were withdrawn from school to join the labour market and supplement family subsistence income. Reduction in expenditure on education included changing over to less expensive schools, mostly from private to government schools, and withdrawing wards from professional courses to join regular degree courses in government colleges.
And a major reduction was also effected on health expenditure. This was done by postponing consultation at doctor?s residence or even avoiding regular medicines by those affected by chronic illnesses like diabetics and blood pressure. Expenditure on food has also been curtailed by switching over to inferior cereals, reduction in milk intake and partial or complete stoppage of non-vegetarian food items. And the most of the group in the lowest income strata vacated their rented houses in the urban area to take shelter in slums or cheaper accommodation in the interiors.
The reduction in expenditure on education and health could have a far-reaching impact that could extend much beyond the current recession, a harsh reality ignored even by those who expect an early recovery. Such periodic crisis in the industry, besides harming the livelihood, health and education of the younger generation, will also threaten the very existence of the industry.
This is because recurring crises push workers to leave the sector and find alternative sources of livelihood, which would have serious long-run repercussions. In fact, even now there are intermittent reports of shortage of skilled labourers in those units which sought to rehire workers. Unless the government intervenes to supplement the income of workers and petty home-based producers to enable them remain in their vocation, the gem polishing industry may find it hard to survive since machines are no substitute for skilled workers.
The writers are associate professor and director respectively at the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur
