Indian Jewelry » Gemstones India

The Geological Survey of India is the main body which undertakes detailed field studies, surveys, expeditions to remote areas and geological probings. During the last few years, the labours of the GSI have succeeded in locating several areas, with the possibility of some minerals including gold & diamonds. Searches and prospecting are continuing, but slowly.

Lately aerial remote sensing and other surveys undertaken by multinationals have also been helpful in charting gem-bearing areas. Mining giants like De Beers and Rio Tinto have also planned to conduct aerial surveys in Karnataka as soon as they get clearance from the Government.

Training of Workers :
Training the new generation for cutting and polishing gems is mostly tradition bound. It starts early in childhood or teenage and the skill is handed down from master craftsmen to family members of both sexes. Some entire families are often found in this occupation which even encompasses three generations at a time, because there is virtually no age or gender bar.

Facilities for formal modern scientific gems and jewellery training are now available at some centres in the country, notably at Surat, New Delhi, Mumbai and Jaipur. Prestigious global training establishments like the \ Gemmological Institutes of America (GIA) and IGI ,\ have established training schools in India.

Examinations for recognized foreign gemological diplomas are also being conducted now, like the F.GA Exam. At Jaipur. (For details, please turn to the section "Study and Training" elsewhere in this volume).

Research & Design:
It is widely being felt that the training base needs to be strengthened further and research and design facilities developed, to keep pace with rapidly changing times. The need for strengthening R & 0 in the precious sector was also stressed at the last National Science Congress, held at Jaipur in 1994.

Research facilities are now being created. Jewellery design centres are coming up at Mumbai, Jaipur and other places. These export-oriented centres would have foreign collaboration also. Some jewellery manufacturing units exclusively for exports have been set up at Santa Cruz, Mumbai and New Delhi. A jeweliery designing centre is operating at Jaipur and another designing and manufaCturing training centre has just been added to the Indian Diamond Institute, Surat. The GJEPC has started specialized jeweliery training at Mumbai and New Delhi and some of the units at SEEPZ have established their own design departments headed by professional designers. The Physics Department of the University of Rajasthan had also extended some research support to the gems sector. An International Institute for Jewellery Training is being established at Mumbai.

Gemmological Services:
Modern gemmological'services for identification, testing, analysis, etc., are available in India at selected centres. For scientific testing and identification of gemstones and other gemmological services, Jaipur has a Gem Testing Laboratory which is being run by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council. It has also started gemmological training courses for testing and identification of gems. A private laboratory is also functioning at Jaipur. The GJEPC has established a Labouratory at New Delhi. A laboratory founded by the fgem & jewellery Exporters Association has been functioning at Mumbai. The latest International Gemmological Institute (I.G.I.) of Antwerp which has launched its Indian Chapter at Mumbai with the active support of I. Henning & Co.
The Gemmological Institute of India (GII) has launched a S\andard Diamond Grading and Certification Laboratory in Mumbai.

Largest Workforce:
The number of workers employed by the Indian gems industry, mostly drawn from villages, constitutes the largest gems and jewellery workforce in the world.
The bulk of this huge workforce is engaged in the diamond industry. The number of artisans working in the diamond sector rose to nearly 1 million by 2000. This number keeps fluctuating seasonally as well as with market conditions. For instance, the recession which began in early 1990 and worsened with the Gulf crisis had caused many closures and layoffs, thereby reducing the workforce drastically in most of the diamond processing centres. Once again because of sluggishness prevailing since mid-1997, the diamond workforce was reduced. Jaipur, the main colored gemstones processing centre, employs an estimated workforce of 80,000 artisans.

The colored gems, pearls and precious jewellery industries employ more than two lakh persons. Besides these workers, traditional gold and silversmiths are spread all over the country in large numbers. The modern jewellery thrust is also pushing up their number. The Indian workforce includes artisans of both sexes. In Jaipur, in some cases, even entire families are engaged in gems processing.

Virtually no Child Labour Now:
Because of the tradition of early training within the family, some children used to assist their elders in gems cutting and polishing. But because of the hue and cry raised worldwide against child labour, the number of these infant apprentices has gone down steeply. The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council of India even ordered a sample survey to find out the exact incidences of child labour and took concrete steps to get it discontinued. The latest feed-back from a follow up survey shows that marginal child labour which existed earlier has now gone down to only a negligible sprinkling.

Gems & Jewellery Sectors:
Major sections of the Indian gems and jewellery sector are being dealt with hereafter in some detail.