Prayaag Akbar finds a trail of corruption and exploitation in the diamond mines of Panna
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Madhya Pradesh. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Madhya Pradesh. Sort by date Show all posts
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Special Report: THE DIAMOND DOOM
Prayaag Akbar finds a trail of corruption and exploitation in the diamond mines of Panna
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
Special Report: THE DIAMOND DOOM
Prayaag Akbar finds a trail of corruption and exploitation in the diamond mines of Panna
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
Special Report: THE DIAMOND DOOM
Prayaag Akbar finds a trail of corruption and exploitation in the diamond mines of Panna
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
Special Report: THE DIAMOND DOOM
Prayaag Akbar finds a trail of corruption and exploitation in the diamond mines of Panna
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
Special Report: THE DIAMOND DOOM
Prayaag Akbar finds a trail of corruption and exploitation in the diamond mines of Panna
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
Special Report: THE DIAMOND DOOM
Prayaag Akbar finds a trail of corruption and exploitation in the diamond mines of Panna
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
When Panda Rama [name changed on request] found a large glowing, diamond amidst the dirt in an uthali mine in Panna, he did what he had been instructed to do by his boss – he slipped it to him instead of handing it over to the mining havaldaar. Later that week his boss gave him one thousand rupees for finding the diamond. “Now I wish I hadn’t given it to him,” he says, “If I had given it to the havaldaar at least I would know how much it was actually worth. It was a big stone. I haven’t found anything since then and that was last season. How am I supposed to survive?”
Panna district in Madhya Pradesh, the oldest and largest diamond source in India and once a territory coveted by emperors and kings, is threatening to devolve into the hotbed of a serious humanitarian crisis due to Government inaction, pilferage by local strongmen and the exploitation of adivasi workers in the area. The Hollywood film Blood Diamond might have brought attention to the diamond trade in countries like Botswana, Congo and Angola, the largest producers of diamonds in the world, but the lucrative diamond trade in Panna, in the heart of Bundelkhand, is surrounded by its own tales of hardship and exploitation. The Bundelkhand region is consistently ranked amongst the lowest in India in indices of per capita income, human development, literacy and infant mortality.
Everywhere around are indications of a desperate, pervasive poverty. Yet we are told time and again by proud locals of the area that this land is of great worth. As we approach Panna, our taxi driver says, “The land might look arid and poor, but there are diamonds in the ground here – is zameen main heere hain.” There are three aspects to the recent debilitation of the region and the growth in illegal activity here. First, the Government-run Navratna company NMDC [National Mineral Development Corporation], the largest employer for adivasis working in the diamond trade here, was forced to shut down the only mechanised mine in the country by the Supreme Court for environmental violations. As a result, for the last two years all the diamond extraction has been manually done, in what are called uthali [shallow] mines. These uthali mines, running across the district of Panna, are usually in small standing fields where diamonds have been found in the past.
Many of the adivasis prospecting for diamonds in these mines work without any wage, believing they will be allowed to keep 70% of the value of any stones they find. In reality any stones found are the property of those local contractors who have purchased the lease from the Madhya Pradesh Government. In addition, because the chances of finding valuable stones so close to the surface are minimal, the adivasis working in these mines often toil for months on end without any form of income. In effect, some contractors trick a large number of adivasis into working for them for free. Then, if diamonds are found, a fraction of the value of the stone is passed on to the labourer, with the contractor keeping the bulk of the revenue.
The Rakshaya Mine is a half hour drive from the town of Panna, a long, dry patch of cracked earth that bakes the soles of your feet as you walk upon it. A scene reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush of the 1850s plays out under the midday sun. There seem to be two levels of employees here; the adivasis who sift through the soil, working without a wage, and the labourers who are paid their mazdoori every day. In one corner a number of the daily-wage labourers, generally young, fit and male, break open the massive Deccan Plateau boulders with kulhaadis. Young women carry the crushed stone to a pool of water a few hundred yards away. Others submerge the rock to separate stone from gravel. Perhaps because of their superior earning potential, perhaps because they are not adivasis, these workers are paid their minuscule daily wages by the contractors. The stone is then dried on flat mud beds until it will be sifted through by the adivasis. Most are old men and women or very young boys and girls.
Bal Kishen is a sun-scarred, needle-thin 60-year-old adivasi from southern Madhya Pradesh who travelled with his family to the mines of Panna to search for diamonds. He has been working here under the belief that he will be allowed to keep a substantial portion of the value of any stones he finds. Rising to his feet with surprising energy, he tells Covert: “Yes, we don’t get paid any daily wages, but I think of it as doing my own dhandaa. Before leaving home I saved up enough money to come here for six months with my family. This area was blessed many hundreds of years ago. It is a very spiritual place. Mahamati Prannath blessed the land for the king, who was his disciple. He was the one who said that diamonds will always be found in the soil.”
Kishen has been sifting through gravel, sand, and soil in search of these shiny stones for four months now. He spends all day working here under the sun, his four young children and wife alongside him in their quest. But he does not seem overly discouraged by the fact that his search has been fruitless. His confidence is borne of both superstition and subtle misdirection from those with power and money. “We came here four months ago. We haven’t found any diamonds yet but I’m sure we’ll come across something before the money runs out. What if I find a diamond worth Rs 5 or 6 lakhs? With that much money I can go home to my village very happily.” Without the workers realising, the contractor will keep most of the money from the auction of the stone. It is also problematic because these uneducated workers are encouraged to believe that stones of that value are regularly found in the shallow mines in this area. However, J.K. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer stationed in Panna, says, “The average value of most of the stones found in the shallow mines is about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.”
Another serious problem in the trade here is that there is a great deal of pilferage of diamonds that are found, causing a direct loss of revenue for the Madhya Pradesh Government. The MP Government is the owner of all the mines in the region and only gives businessmen one-year contracts to operate shallow mines. The licence to prospect for diamonds here is available for only Rs 200. Stones that are found in the shallow mines are supposed to be handed over to Government officials, who then auction the diamonds once every four months. Officials have placed Mining Havaldaars – complete with khaki uniform and laathi – who are required to walk around two or three of these shallow mines every day and take possession of any stones that have been found. Shiddhi Lal, who spends most days of the year walking between three mines in this area, explains: “I have to cover all three mines in the area so sometimes it does become difficult.
If a stone is found and I am not there in that mine who is to say that the person who finds it does not just give it to the contractor or whoever is in charge at the mine? But I don’t think it happens very often. For example, once I took in a 3 carat stone from one of these mines. I remember it was auctioned off for Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Others disagree. Sitaram Patwaria, the owner of a hotel on the outskirts of Panna and a well-known figure in the community, contends that at least one-third of the stones found in the shallow mines are not declared to the havaldaars and pass under the radar of mining officials. “It is bound to happen, because the method of monitoring the extraction is not very good. The businessmen who buy the licences from the Government sometimes don’t want to give even that 10% of the value of the stone, so they tell their workers not to declare some of the stones they find. Diamond traders are always coming to town to buy diamonds – and they can pick these ones up on the cheap because they have to be sold quietly.”
Every resident with knowledge of the diamond trade Covert spoke with agreed that 30-40% of the stones would go undeclared every year. Solanki, the Mining and Diamond Officer of Panna, while unsure about the extent of the illegal trade, admitted that a number of stones are kept out of the official tracking process without his knowledge.
Away from the town of Panna, the standard form of shelter is tiny, decrepit mud huts that are seen sporadically in clusters along the road. It is clear the area is mired in poverty, yet successive State Governments have failed to provide the infrastructure and facilities that would allow this severely underdeveloped region to benefit from this business. Pradeep Pateria, a lifelong resident of Panna and a worker in the Congress Party here, tells Covert: “The Government has failed us because they don’t provide the facilities they should. Industries should be developed here for cutting, polishing, shorting, gridding; if they had built a Diamond Park in this area it would have provided so many jobs. Instead the stones that come from this region create wealth in Bombay and Gujarat, instead of helping one of the poorest places in India.”
The Supreme Court has just sanctioned the reopening of the huge NMDC mine, which should revitalise diamond production here and bring some employment and industry back to Panna. But, inevitably, things will get worse before they get better. As the world economy spirals into recession the demand for diamonds in the big markets like Dubai and the United States, the largest purchaser of diamonds, is declining sharply. Viral Chokshi, a diamond trader with Swastika International, explains, “Because of the recession, the diamond market has shut down in India right now. Over 200,000 people have been retrenched in Surat alone. If the American economy continues to struggle the prices they get at the auctions held in places like Panna will begin to fall as a consequence. Right now there is no demand.”
Some of those operating shallow mines in Panna are already engaged in highly dubious practices. With demand and prices falling, the temptation to cut corners and exploit those without the strength and education to fight back only increases. A new system is needed – one that protects people like Panda Rama and Bal Kishen, who spend their old age on their knees, in search of a sparkling object in the dirt that will transport them from a life spent in poverty
Monday, December 09, 2013
Poll Analysis: The 'Master Politics' Of 'Clear Governance'
Something big has happened this past week. While the focus of most political analysts is on individuals, there is a need to read the bigger message behind the results of the elections in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The clear winner here is “governance”.
People in Delhi and Rajasthan voted overwhelmingly against the lack of governance and transparency, while those in MP and Chhattisgarh continued their belief in the governance provided by the incumbent governments. Let's look at each state and how governance, or the lack of it, affected voting.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Over 16,600 farmer suicides in 2007
The broad trends of the past decade seem unshaken. Farmer suicides in the country since 1997 now total 182,936, but the real causes behind this devastation remain unaddressed, reports P Sainath.
Suicides by farmers of Maharashtra crossed the 4000 mark in 2007, for the third time in four years, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). As many as 4238 farmers of the State took their lives that year, the latest for which data are available, accounting for a fourth of 16,632 farmer suicides in the country.
The national total represents a slight fall, from 17,060 in 2006, but the broad trends of the past decade seem unshaken. Farmer suicides in the country since 1997 now total 1,82,936.
Yet again, the five worst-affected States - Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh - account for two-thirds of all such suicides in the country. Together, they saw 11,026 in 2007. Of these, Maharashtra alone accounted for over 38 per cent. Of the "Big five," Andhra Pradesh saw a decline of 810 suicides against its 2006 total. Karnataka saw a rise of 415 over the same period. Madhya Pradesh (1,375) posted a decline of 112. But Chhattisgarh's 1593 means an increase of 110 over 2006.
Maharashtra registered a fall of 215. But Karnataka (2,135) and Andhra Pradesh (1,797) - the next two worst-hit States - together account for less than Maharashtra's 4000-plus. A one-year dip of 221 occurred in 2005 in the western State only to be followed by an all-time high of 4,453 suicides in 2006. This trend shows no turn-around and remains dismal.
Maharashtra's 2007 figure of 4238 follows one-and-half years of farm 'relief packages' worth around Rs.5000 crores and a prime ministerial visit in mid-2006 to the distressed Vidharbha region. Between 2005 and 2007, the State also saw a plethora of official reports, studies, and commissions of inquiry aimed at tackling the problem.
However, the 12,617 farmer suicides of these years are the worst-ever for any three-year period since the State began recording such data in 1995. Indeed, farmer suicides in Maharashtra since that year crossed the 40,000-mark. The structural causes of that crisis seem untouched.
Nationally, farmer suicides during 2002-2007 were worse than for the years 1997-2001. NCRB data are available for the whole country for 1997-2007. In the five years till 2001, there were 15,747 farmer suicides a year on average. For the six years from 2002, that annual average has risen to 17,366. The increase is distressingly higher in the main crisis States.
Suicides by farmers of Maharashtra crossed the 4000 mark in 2007, for the third time in four years, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). As many as 4238 farmers of the State took their lives that year, the latest for which data are available, accounting for a fourth of 16,632 farmer suicides in the country.
The national total represents a slight fall, from 17,060 in 2006, but the broad trends of the past decade seem unshaken. Farmer suicides in the country since 1997 now total 1,82,936.
Yet again, the five worst-affected States - Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh - account for two-thirds of all such suicides in the country. Together, they saw 11,026 in 2007. Of these, Maharashtra alone accounted for over 38 per cent. Of the "Big five," Andhra Pradesh saw a decline of 810 suicides against its 2006 total. Karnataka saw a rise of 415 over the same period. Madhya Pradesh (1,375) posted a decline of 112. But Chhattisgarh's 1593 means an increase of 110 over 2006.
Maharashtra registered a fall of 215. But Karnataka (2,135) and Andhra Pradesh (1,797) - the next two worst-hit States - together account for less than Maharashtra's 4000-plus. A one-year dip of 221 occurred in 2005 in the western State only to be followed by an all-time high of 4,453 suicides in 2006. This trend shows no turn-around and remains dismal.
Maharashtra's 2007 figure of 4238 follows one-and-half years of farm 'relief packages' worth around Rs.5000 crores and a prime ministerial visit in mid-2006 to the distressed Vidharbha region. Between 2005 and 2007, the State also saw a plethora of official reports, studies, and commissions of inquiry aimed at tackling the problem.
However, the 12,617 farmer suicides of these years are the worst-ever for any three-year period since the State began recording such data in 1995. Indeed, farmer suicides in Maharashtra since that year crossed the 40,000-mark. The structural causes of that crisis seem untouched.
Nationally, farmer suicides during 2002-2007 were worse than for the years 1997-2001. NCRB data are available for the whole country for 1997-2007. In the five years till 2001, there were 15,747 farmer suicides a year on average. For the six years from 2002, that annual average has risen to 17,366. The increase is distressingly higher in the main crisis States.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Is Most Wanted Don 'Dawood Ibrahim' Is Behind The 4,000 Cr Lottery Scam Backed By Pak Based Crime Syndicate?
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has alerted the government about fraudulent lottery schemes run across India by an organised syndicate in Pakistan, which employs Indian agents to suck huge amounts of money from the gullible.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Women Sarpanchs: 'Fighting Against All Odds' In MP
Panchayats of Madhya Pradesh provide reservation of up to 50 per cent for women, but the participation of women in governance has gone beyond such new roles. INN Live reports on how women leaders are transforming the very traditions and symbols of grassroots politics.
It does not take much time to form stereotypes, especially if these are negative and related to women.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Caste politics come full circle in India
By Sudha Ramachandran
Upper-caste Brahmins, whose relevance in the electoral arena dwindled over the past few decades thanks to their relatively small numbers, are wielding significant influence in the general elections scheduled for next month. In fact, the master strategists and spin doctors of the main political parties in the poll fray are Brahmin.
"Most of the country's political strategists and backroom boys - those running the country's political war rooms, advising party leaders, drawing up electoral battle plans, negotiating tricky alliances, crunching numbers or just working on slogans and spin - are from among the 'twice-born' [Brahmins]," said Smita Gupta in an article in the newsmagazine Outlook.
Jairam Ramesh, the election coordinator of Congress - the lead party in the ruling coalition - and author of several of its policy documents, is Brahmin. As is the chief election strategist of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Arun Jaitley. Orissa chief minister and president of the Bharatiya Janata Dal Navin Patnaik's chief advisor is Pyarimohan Mohapatra, a Brahmin. So is the spokesperson of the Janata Dal-Secular, Y S V Dutta. Even the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a party of low-caste Dalits (the former "untouchables"), has a Brahmin, Satish Chandra Mishra, as its chief strategist.
What is more, the Brahmin vote is being assiduously courted by the BSP in the electorally crucial state of Uttar Pradesh. The party has given a fifth of the seats it is contesting in Uttar Pradesh to Brahmin candidates. Of the 80 seats up for grabs in Uttar Pradesh, 20 have been given to Brahmins as against 17 for Dalits. In the 2004 general election, the BSP fielded just eight Brahmin candidates.
Traditionally employed as priests, scholars and teachers, Brahmins are at the top of India's caste hierarchy. But constituting roughly 5% of the population - in several states especially in southern India they account for a mere 1-3% of the population - their electoral clout has been limited. This has been further circumscribed by the assertion of the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in the country's politics.
Many will argue that Brahmin influence in the power structure never diminished. Indeed, despite reservations for Dalits and OBCs, India's bureaucracy is significantly Brahmin. Many Brahmins figure among advisors to ministers and top officials in various departments. According to the Backward Classes Commission, Brahmins account for 37% of the bureaucracy.
While their presence in the bureaucracy is significant, Brahmins had become near non-entities in the electoral arena. Although several prime ministers were of Brahmin origin, the number of Brahmins in parliament declined steadily over the decades. The present Lok Sabha (Lower House of parliament), for instance, has only 50 Brahmin MPs - 9.17% of the total strength of the house, down from 19.91% in 1984.
While a head count of Brahmin voters, candidates or MPs would not amount to much, their numbers among the party strategists and spin doctors is significant. And several parties are eyeing the Brahmin vote in what is likely to be a close election and are fashioning their strategies with that in mind.
Take the BSP for instance. Its leader, Mayawati, who is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, was once notorious for spewing venom on Brahmins and other upper castes. Her rallying cry was "Tilak, Tarazu aur Talwar, inko maaro joote chaar" (Thrash the Brahmin, the Bania and the Rajput with shoes). But in recent years she has been aggressively wooing Brahmins. And Mishra, her Brahmin advisor-cum-strategist is at the forefront of this courting of the community.
In the 2007 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BSP joined hands with the Brahmins. The Dalit-Brahmin alliance propelled the BSP to power.
While this was not the first time that the BSP formed a government or the first time a Dalit woman had become chief minister, the BSP's 2007 victory was historic as it was able to form a government on its own. And that had become possible because of the crucial support it received from Brahmins in the elections.
What prompted Mayawati to reach out to Brahmins? Caste arithmetic. The BSP has the support of the Dalits in Uttar Pradesh - it is sure of 21% of the vote in the state. But this meant only 100 seats or a fourth of the 403-seat assembly. It needed to draw in support from other castes and communities to come to power. With the OBCs unlikely to vote for Dalits - it is the OBCs that are the main oppressors of Dalits today and are in daily contact and conflict with them - Mayawati looked to the Brahmins.
As for the Brahmins, lacking a party to support - the BJP, which has traditionally attracted their votes, is in disarray in Uttar Pradesh - they accepted the BSP's hand.
With the Dalit-Brahmin alliance proving to be rewarding in the 2007 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Mayawati is now replicating that strategy for the general elections. And it is not just in Uttar Pradesh that she is reaching out to Brahmins. Brahmins figure among her party's candidates in other states such as Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra as well.
The party that is the most agitated by the BSP's wooing of Brahmins is the BJP, which has traditionally drawn the Brahmin vote. But BJP sources say that outside Uttar Pradesh, Brahmins will continue to vote for its candidates. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu organization that provides the BJP with its ideological moorings, is overwhelmingly Brahmin and its cadres are fanning out across the country to win support for the BJP.
While the Brahmin vote is being assiduously courted in Uttar Pradesh, this is not the case in south India where the Brahmins are numerically insignificant and politically marginal. But even here, a Brahmin woman, Jayalalithaa, has dominated one of the leading parties in Tamil Nadu and even became its chief minister.
For centuries, kings derived their legitimacy from the ritual investiture of their Brahmin priests. Brahmins played the role of advisors to kings. While the kings were hardly puppets in the hands of the Brahmins, the latter did wield immense influence and power.
Things changed in Independent India after 1947. The numerically insignificant Brahmin became politically irrelevant. But their influence in the electoral arena is growing again. Their vote in the larger states matters. Today political parties are looking to Brahmins to plot and strategize their victory in the polls.
The Brahmins, it seems, are back in the political game.
Upper-caste Brahmins, whose relevance in the electoral arena dwindled over the past few decades thanks to their relatively small numbers, are wielding significant influence in the general elections scheduled for next month. In fact, the master strategists and spin doctors of the main political parties in the poll fray are Brahmin.
"Most of the country's political strategists and backroom boys - those running the country's political war rooms, advising party leaders, drawing up electoral battle plans, negotiating tricky alliances, crunching numbers or just working on slogans and spin - are from among the 'twice-born' [Brahmins]," said Smita Gupta in an article in the newsmagazine Outlook.
Jairam Ramesh, the election coordinator of Congress - the lead party in the ruling coalition - and author of several of its policy documents, is Brahmin. As is the chief election strategist of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Arun Jaitley. Orissa chief minister and president of the Bharatiya Janata Dal Navin Patnaik's chief advisor is Pyarimohan Mohapatra, a Brahmin. So is the spokesperson of the Janata Dal-Secular, Y S V Dutta. Even the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a party of low-caste Dalits (the former "untouchables"), has a Brahmin, Satish Chandra Mishra, as its chief strategist.
What is more, the Brahmin vote is being assiduously courted by the BSP in the electorally crucial state of Uttar Pradesh. The party has given a fifth of the seats it is contesting in Uttar Pradesh to Brahmin candidates. Of the 80 seats up for grabs in Uttar Pradesh, 20 have been given to Brahmins as against 17 for Dalits. In the 2004 general election, the BSP fielded just eight Brahmin candidates.
Traditionally employed as priests, scholars and teachers, Brahmins are at the top of India's caste hierarchy. But constituting roughly 5% of the population - in several states especially in southern India they account for a mere 1-3% of the population - their electoral clout has been limited. This has been further circumscribed by the assertion of the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in the country's politics.
Many will argue that Brahmin influence in the power structure never diminished. Indeed, despite reservations for Dalits and OBCs, India's bureaucracy is significantly Brahmin. Many Brahmins figure among advisors to ministers and top officials in various departments. According to the Backward Classes Commission, Brahmins account for 37% of the bureaucracy.
While their presence in the bureaucracy is significant, Brahmins had become near non-entities in the electoral arena. Although several prime ministers were of Brahmin origin, the number of Brahmins in parliament declined steadily over the decades. The present Lok Sabha (Lower House of parliament), for instance, has only 50 Brahmin MPs - 9.17% of the total strength of the house, down from 19.91% in 1984.
While a head count of Brahmin voters, candidates or MPs would not amount to much, their numbers among the party strategists and spin doctors is significant. And several parties are eyeing the Brahmin vote in what is likely to be a close election and are fashioning their strategies with that in mind.
Take the BSP for instance. Its leader, Mayawati, who is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, was once notorious for spewing venom on Brahmins and other upper castes. Her rallying cry was "Tilak, Tarazu aur Talwar, inko maaro joote chaar" (Thrash the Brahmin, the Bania and the Rajput with shoes). But in recent years she has been aggressively wooing Brahmins. And Mishra, her Brahmin advisor-cum-strategist is at the forefront of this courting of the community.
In the 2007 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BSP joined hands with the Brahmins. The Dalit-Brahmin alliance propelled the BSP to power.
While this was not the first time that the BSP formed a government or the first time a Dalit woman had become chief minister, the BSP's 2007 victory was historic as it was able to form a government on its own. And that had become possible because of the crucial support it received from Brahmins in the elections.
What prompted Mayawati to reach out to Brahmins? Caste arithmetic. The BSP has the support of the Dalits in Uttar Pradesh - it is sure of 21% of the vote in the state. But this meant only 100 seats or a fourth of the 403-seat assembly. It needed to draw in support from other castes and communities to come to power. With the OBCs unlikely to vote for Dalits - it is the OBCs that are the main oppressors of Dalits today and are in daily contact and conflict with them - Mayawati looked to the Brahmins.
As for the Brahmins, lacking a party to support - the BJP, which has traditionally attracted their votes, is in disarray in Uttar Pradesh - they accepted the BSP's hand.
With the Dalit-Brahmin alliance proving to be rewarding in the 2007 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Mayawati is now replicating that strategy for the general elections. And it is not just in Uttar Pradesh that she is reaching out to Brahmins. Brahmins figure among her party's candidates in other states such as Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra as well.
The party that is the most agitated by the BSP's wooing of Brahmins is the BJP, which has traditionally drawn the Brahmin vote. But BJP sources say that outside Uttar Pradesh, Brahmins will continue to vote for its candidates. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu organization that provides the BJP with its ideological moorings, is overwhelmingly Brahmin and its cadres are fanning out across the country to win support for the BJP.
While the Brahmin vote is being assiduously courted in Uttar Pradesh, this is not the case in south India where the Brahmins are numerically insignificant and politically marginal. But even here, a Brahmin woman, Jayalalithaa, has dominated one of the leading parties in Tamil Nadu and even became its chief minister.
For centuries, kings derived their legitimacy from the ritual investiture of their Brahmin priests. Brahmins played the role of advisors to kings. While the kings were hardly puppets in the hands of the Brahmins, the latter did wield immense influence and power.
Things changed in Independent India after 1947. The numerically insignificant Brahmin became politically irrelevant. But their influence in the electoral arena is growing again. Their vote in the larger states matters. Today political parties are looking to Brahmins to plot and strategize their victory in the polls.
The Brahmins, it seems, are back in the political game.
Sunday, January 04, 2015
Special Report: How A 8-Month-Old Abhilasha Sent To Jail In Madhya Pradesh's 'Anti-Conversion' Case?
With the Bharatiya Janata Party pushing for a national anti-conversion law, it might be instructive to see how existing state laws are used (or not). Last week, INNLIVE reported on a ghar wapsi event in Gujarat’s Valsad district where Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists announced to the media that they had converted 400-500 Christian tribals to Hinduism. Under Gujarat's law, those holding or participating in religious conversion ceremonies must seek permission from the district authorities. No permission was sought by the VHP and yet the policemen present at the event felt no need to act against the organisers.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
A Famished Franchise
What is a vote to a starving man? What does the world’s largest election mean to the world’s largest group of forsaken people? HNN finds out.
A VOTE IS often a product of mixed motives — the result of generations of unshakeable loyalty, or the last-minute epiphany of a frustrated finger hovering over multiple EVM buttons. A vote sometimes rewards jobs provided, children schooled, identities recognised. Other times, it punishes pleas unheard, bulbs unlit, bruised faiths. It is a bargaining chip that negotiates a better life for you.
But what if you were forgotten? Even in the shower of attention that elections bring, what if the convoy drove past your village for the nth time? What is a vote to you, if for the third time, a child in your family was dying of hunger, and you had no hospital to take her to, and no earnings to buy her food with? From places that governments have long ignored come shocking stories of the complete failure of government and unbelievable deprivation. Not a morsel to eat, not a drop safe to drink. What does the world’s biggest election mean to the largest group of forsaken people in that country? What is a vote to a starving man?
It takes a stinging swarm of mosquitoes to wake little Maya from her tired sleep. Immediately, she bursts into tears. She thrashes her bony legs; her ribs visible under her skin. There are angry rashes and bleeding sores all over her body. Exhausted from crying, Maya’s eyes shut again. The wailing is now soundless, the tears flow quietly.
Maya looks about one year old, but is actually three. “She doesn’t seem to grow,” says Rasali, her mother. “She hasn’t been able to walk or crawl and most of the time, just lies in an unconscious sleep.” Maya has Grade-4 malnutrition, the severest degree, which means that she has only a few months left to live. She is from Nichikhori village in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district, where locals recognise villages not by name, but by the number of children that have starved to death there in the past few months. Nichikhori is known by the number 6. Not one of the children here who stare at us shyly from behind walls and trees looks well, let alone well-fed. Without exception, they are underweight and have distended abdomens, reed-thin limbs, bulging eyes. Almost all have had a sibling starve to death.
Every four minutes, a child is born dead in Madhya Pradesh. Of those that survive, over 14 per cent die before they turn six. In the seven months from July 2008 to January 2009, 676 children died here of malnourishment. That’s three a day. Empty kitchens, leafless trees and ration shops that are as barren as the landscape are visible proof that there is precious little to eat in northern MP. A chronic, pervasive hunger that lay hidden till a few years ago now screams for attention in newspaper headlines. It is not surprising that, in December 2008, the BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chauhan became Chief Minister against a poll promise of subsidised rice. With no actual food to be had, the mere hope of food is what people subsist on. Lok Sabha aspirants have realised that here, the promise of food security is a profitable one to make and a convenient one to break.
RN Rawat, a Congress MLA from Shivpuri is contesting the Morena Lok Sabha seat, with “eradicating starvation deaths” as his primary agenda. When asked why he did not raise the issue in the years he was an MLA, Rawat says, “I may be raising this just before elections, but someone has to do it sometime.” The MP administration denied reports of malnutrition until 2007, when a wave of hungerrelated deaths brought criticism from across the world. Today, Central and state governments recognise the problem, but underplay its scale. Nutrition and Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) were started to treat malnourished children in remote villages, but they admit only severely malnourished children, who are already too sick to respond to treatment. The other hungry children are left to the Centre’s anganwadis, which are supposed to provide a daily meal to children under six. In Shivpuri district, however, women say these meals come only once a week.
“Why do these people depend on the government for everything?” asks Ganesh Singh, the BJP parliamentarian from Satna, who is contesting the seat again this year. “The government helps those who help themselves,” he declares.
In Singh’s constituency, long years of drought have forced many families to mortgage their land to moneylenders for food. Non-agricultural jobs are scarce and pay poorly. Entire villages bear insurmountable debts but still have no food. It is at this point that people look to the government. And when even children die of starvation, it is usually a sign of the most abysmal hunger.
Hari Singh, a labourer in Sheopur, lost his one-year-old son three weeks ago. “Sonu was always very weak,” says Singh. “When he was just over 14 months, he suddenly got boils all over his body and his skin started peeling. He became sookha (dry). He couldn’t even digest breast milk and then got diarrhoea. Towards the end, a rotting smell came from his body. That’s when I knew it was over.” The experience left Hari blaming himself. But what it reveals is an absolute breakdown of government welfare schemes.
IF THERE is food from anywhere, the child is sure to be fed. Universally, parents feed their child first,” says Sachin Jain, a member of the Right to Food campaign in Madhya Pradesh. “If children are starving, it means the entire community is on the brink.”
Starvation deaths are often downplayed by governments as transient aberrations, ones that might merit a cure but never prevention; aberrations that can be dealt with after they occur. The Mizoram government, for instance, has camouflaged chronic hunger among its other anti-famine measures. The state witnesses a unique phenomenon called mautam, literally, ‘bamboo death’. Every 48 years, a particular species of tropical bamboo flowers. A temporary surfeit of rich bamboo seeds leads to an explosion in the population of rats, which soon overrun paddy fields, causing a famine. The last famine was in 1959, and it took on political colour as it became the genesis for the militant Mizoram National Famine Front.
Since late 2004, Mizoram has been going through another devastating famine. There are clear manifestations of the onset of famine in eight districts. It seems bizarre that an entire people live perennially on the verge of starvation, but mautam remains a non-issue this election. CL Ruala, the Congress candidate says that the famine does not feature in the party manifesto because its repercussions are limited. C Rokhuma, founder of the Anti-Famine Campaign Organization, believes that Mizoram is a victim of politicised and badly tackled hunger. “The 2007 mautam was manipulated by politicians,” he says. “They let people starve and then brought rice for them from outside, so as to be seen as solving their problem.”
The snag in approaching hunger as a famine-like phenomenon is that the solution is often short-sighted. The Central government accumulates an emergency stock of food grains by buying directly from farmers, a cache meant for famine relief. It has been hoarding this for so long that it now has four times the required stock. As development economist Jean Dréze puts it, if these sacks of grain were lined up in a row, that array of futile, wasted food would stretch for more than a million kilometres, to the moon and back. Grotesquely, though India has the largest unused stocks of food in the world, it also has more people suffering from hunger than any other country.
ALOOK AT the states that have lost the most people to starvation — Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Orissa — reveals a more silent and misunderstood killer: chronic hunger, the kind that is caused by an utter disability to buy any food. With no land to grow food on and no earnings to buy even subsidised food, families grow hungrier by the generation.
Kalahandi in Orissa has become an icon of Indian poverty. Visited repeatedly by Congress bigwigs and development journalists, the district still remains an unfortunate, living stereotype. A ricesurplus district, yet a district with one of the highest mortality rates (140 per thousand) in the country. The poorest state, yet one voting for 27 crorepati candidates, seven of them from the hungriest Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput region.
When the residents of Pengdusi village in Kalahandi are asked what they do for a living, one man bursts out laughing, “We’re boatmakers, fishermen or farmers. At least until we become patients.” In September 2007, 16 people died of diarrhoea here in just 15 days, most of them adults. No one was taken to the hospital because it is 45km away, and there was no bus, no ambulance, and no road. “If you fell sick in this village, you died,” says 30-year-old Madan Nayak, who lost his wife and, one day later, his one-month-old daughter. Diarrhoea is the most common symptom of hunger death — a body’s final rejection of any food or water, an inability to digest anything because of being unfed for too long. Even today, the Primary Health sub-Centre set up 5km from the village following media and NGO pressure, lies locked, with no doctor or health worker appointed. Two years after people died of neglect, no lessons have been learnt.
Yet, instead of despondence, there is still talk of political change. “We all campaigned for Pushpendra Singh of the BJD in the 2004 assembly elections, because we thought he would help us get our BPL cards,” says Haladar Majhi, “But after he won, when we went to remind him of his promise, he asked us who we were.” This year, the popular parliamentary candidate seems to be the Congress’ Bhakta Charan Das, the first politician to visit the village at its worst time in 2007. “He came on a motorcycle, with a doctor riding pillion,” says Haladar, “He ensured that the road is paved. He responds to us, at least for now.”
NEARBY, PREDOMINANTLY tribal Kashipur has been facing the wrath of failed crops. Everyone seems to be at work in lush paddy fields for most of the day, but in their homes, there is commonly just half a pot of dilute rice gruel for a family of five for three days. It is a simple difference between the haves and the have nots. In the last 50 years in Orissa, big farmers have been buying fertile land and cheap labour for throwaway prices. Adivasis work for foodgrains on lands they once owned. When there is no harvest in the rainy season between May and October, they find themselves jobless and too poor to buy even the Rs 2 rice from ration shops. Those with a few acres of land manage for a month or two before hunger strikes them too. Everyone seems to have an NREGA card, but instead of a guaranteed 100 days a year, people in Kashipur get an average of 20 days’ work. Most of that is unpaid.
The staple diet is mango kernels, which lie drying in front of every house. They will be ground and eaten, even though it was these very poisonous fungus- ridden kernels that caused rampant diarrhoea a year ago. “We know this isn’t very good for us,” admits Kaluna, who now raises four children belonging to her sister who died of starvation last year in Kashipur. “But there’s not enough farm produce,” she says. “We need something to quieten the growling stomach.”
The still-robust will to vote among the most neglected is striking. “In the absence of food, land, work, and good health, my vote is the only privilege I have left,” says the 67-year-old Dhiru Kaka, who lost his son, daughter-in-law and wife to starvation last year in Kashipur, Orissa. Playing with his voter ID card is his 2-year-old grandson, the only family he has left. When Dhiru Kaka made the trip to the polling booth on April 16, it was to cast his vote for the 17th time. “At least for a few months after the election, the winning politician will bring us food,” he says, hugging his grandson. “That is the best we can ever expect.”
A VOTE IS often a product of mixed motives — the result of generations of unshakeable loyalty, or the last-minute epiphany of a frustrated finger hovering over multiple EVM buttons. A vote sometimes rewards jobs provided, children schooled, identities recognised. Other times, it punishes pleas unheard, bulbs unlit, bruised faiths. It is a bargaining chip that negotiates a better life for you.
But what if you were forgotten? Even in the shower of attention that elections bring, what if the convoy drove past your village for the nth time? What is a vote to you, if for the third time, a child in your family was dying of hunger, and you had no hospital to take her to, and no earnings to buy her food with? From places that governments have long ignored come shocking stories of the complete failure of government and unbelievable deprivation. Not a morsel to eat, not a drop safe to drink. What does the world’s biggest election mean to the largest group of forsaken people in that country? What is a vote to a starving man?
It takes a stinging swarm of mosquitoes to wake little Maya from her tired sleep. Immediately, she bursts into tears. She thrashes her bony legs; her ribs visible under her skin. There are angry rashes and bleeding sores all over her body. Exhausted from crying, Maya’s eyes shut again. The wailing is now soundless, the tears flow quietly.
Maya looks about one year old, but is actually three. “She doesn’t seem to grow,” says Rasali, her mother. “She hasn’t been able to walk or crawl and most of the time, just lies in an unconscious sleep.” Maya has Grade-4 malnutrition, the severest degree, which means that she has only a few months left to live. She is from Nichikhori village in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district, where locals recognise villages not by name, but by the number of children that have starved to death there in the past few months. Nichikhori is known by the number 6. Not one of the children here who stare at us shyly from behind walls and trees looks well, let alone well-fed. Without exception, they are underweight and have distended abdomens, reed-thin limbs, bulging eyes. Almost all have had a sibling starve to death.
Every four minutes, a child is born dead in Madhya Pradesh. Of those that survive, over 14 per cent die before they turn six. In the seven months from July 2008 to January 2009, 676 children died here of malnourishment. That’s three a day. Empty kitchens, leafless trees and ration shops that are as barren as the landscape are visible proof that there is precious little to eat in northern MP. A chronic, pervasive hunger that lay hidden till a few years ago now screams for attention in newspaper headlines. It is not surprising that, in December 2008, the BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chauhan became Chief Minister against a poll promise of subsidised rice. With no actual food to be had, the mere hope of food is what people subsist on. Lok Sabha aspirants have realised that here, the promise of food security is a profitable one to make and a convenient one to break.
RN Rawat, a Congress MLA from Shivpuri is contesting the Morena Lok Sabha seat, with “eradicating starvation deaths” as his primary agenda. When asked why he did not raise the issue in the years he was an MLA, Rawat says, “I may be raising this just before elections, but someone has to do it sometime.” The MP administration denied reports of malnutrition until 2007, when a wave of hungerrelated deaths brought criticism from across the world. Today, Central and state governments recognise the problem, but underplay its scale. Nutrition and Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) were started to treat malnourished children in remote villages, but they admit only severely malnourished children, who are already too sick to respond to treatment. The other hungry children are left to the Centre’s anganwadis, which are supposed to provide a daily meal to children under six. In Shivpuri district, however, women say these meals come only once a week.
“Why do these people depend on the government for everything?” asks Ganesh Singh, the BJP parliamentarian from Satna, who is contesting the seat again this year. “The government helps those who help themselves,” he declares.
In Singh’s constituency, long years of drought have forced many families to mortgage their land to moneylenders for food. Non-agricultural jobs are scarce and pay poorly. Entire villages bear insurmountable debts but still have no food. It is at this point that people look to the government. And when even children die of starvation, it is usually a sign of the most abysmal hunger.
Hari Singh, a labourer in Sheopur, lost his one-year-old son three weeks ago. “Sonu was always very weak,” says Singh. “When he was just over 14 months, he suddenly got boils all over his body and his skin started peeling. He became sookha (dry). He couldn’t even digest breast milk and then got diarrhoea. Towards the end, a rotting smell came from his body. That’s when I knew it was over.” The experience left Hari blaming himself. But what it reveals is an absolute breakdown of government welfare schemes.
IF THERE is food from anywhere, the child is sure to be fed. Universally, parents feed their child first,” says Sachin Jain, a member of the Right to Food campaign in Madhya Pradesh. “If children are starving, it means the entire community is on the brink.”
Starvation deaths are often downplayed by governments as transient aberrations, ones that might merit a cure but never prevention; aberrations that can be dealt with after they occur. The Mizoram government, for instance, has camouflaged chronic hunger among its other anti-famine measures. The state witnesses a unique phenomenon called mautam, literally, ‘bamboo death’. Every 48 years, a particular species of tropical bamboo flowers. A temporary surfeit of rich bamboo seeds leads to an explosion in the population of rats, which soon overrun paddy fields, causing a famine. The last famine was in 1959, and it took on political colour as it became the genesis for the militant Mizoram National Famine Front.
Since late 2004, Mizoram has been going through another devastating famine. There are clear manifestations of the onset of famine in eight districts. It seems bizarre that an entire people live perennially on the verge of starvation, but mautam remains a non-issue this election. CL Ruala, the Congress candidate says that the famine does not feature in the party manifesto because its repercussions are limited. C Rokhuma, founder of the Anti-Famine Campaign Organization, believes that Mizoram is a victim of politicised and badly tackled hunger. “The 2007 mautam was manipulated by politicians,” he says. “They let people starve and then brought rice for them from outside, so as to be seen as solving their problem.”
The snag in approaching hunger as a famine-like phenomenon is that the solution is often short-sighted. The Central government accumulates an emergency stock of food grains by buying directly from farmers, a cache meant for famine relief. It has been hoarding this for so long that it now has four times the required stock. As development economist Jean Dréze puts it, if these sacks of grain were lined up in a row, that array of futile, wasted food would stretch for more than a million kilometres, to the moon and back. Grotesquely, though India has the largest unused stocks of food in the world, it also has more people suffering from hunger than any other country.
ALOOK AT the states that have lost the most people to starvation — Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Orissa — reveals a more silent and misunderstood killer: chronic hunger, the kind that is caused by an utter disability to buy any food. With no land to grow food on and no earnings to buy even subsidised food, families grow hungrier by the generation.
Kalahandi in Orissa has become an icon of Indian poverty. Visited repeatedly by Congress bigwigs and development journalists, the district still remains an unfortunate, living stereotype. A ricesurplus district, yet a district with one of the highest mortality rates (140 per thousand) in the country. The poorest state, yet one voting for 27 crorepati candidates, seven of them from the hungriest Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput region.
When the residents of Pengdusi village in Kalahandi are asked what they do for a living, one man bursts out laughing, “We’re boatmakers, fishermen or farmers. At least until we become patients.” In September 2007, 16 people died of diarrhoea here in just 15 days, most of them adults. No one was taken to the hospital because it is 45km away, and there was no bus, no ambulance, and no road. “If you fell sick in this village, you died,” says 30-year-old Madan Nayak, who lost his wife and, one day later, his one-month-old daughter. Diarrhoea is the most common symptom of hunger death — a body’s final rejection of any food or water, an inability to digest anything because of being unfed for too long. Even today, the Primary Health sub-Centre set up 5km from the village following media and NGO pressure, lies locked, with no doctor or health worker appointed. Two years after people died of neglect, no lessons have been learnt.
Yet, instead of despondence, there is still talk of political change. “We all campaigned for Pushpendra Singh of the BJD in the 2004 assembly elections, because we thought he would help us get our BPL cards,” says Haladar Majhi, “But after he won, when we went to remind him of his promise, he asked us who we were.” This year, the popular parliamentary candidate seems to be the Congress’ Bhakta Charan Das, the first politician to visit the village at its worst time in 2007. “He came on a motorcycle, with a doctor riding pillion,” says Haladar, “He ensured that the road is paved. He responds to us, at least for now.”
NEARBY, PREDOMINANTLY tribal Kashipur has been facing the wrath of failed crops. Everyone seems to be at work in lush paddy fields for most of the day, but in their homes, there is commonly just half a pot of dilute rice gruel for a family of five for three days. It is a simple difference between the haves and the have nots. In the last 50 years in Orissa, big farmers have been buying fertile land and cheap labour for throwaway prices. Adivasis work for foodgrains on lands they once owned. When there is no harvest in the rainy season between May and October, they find themselves jobless and too poor to buy even the Rs 2 rice from ration shops. Those with a few acres of land manage for a month or two before hunger strikes them too. Everyone seems to have an NREGA card, but instead of a guaranteed 100 days a year, people in Kashipur get an average of 20 days’ work. Most of that is unpaid.
The staple diet is mango kernels, which lie drying in front of every house. They will be ground and eaten, even though it was these very poisonous fungus- ridden kernels that caused rampant diarrhoea a year ago. “We know this isn’t very good for us,” admits Kaluna, who now raises four children belonging to her sister who died of starvation last year in Kashipur. “But there’s not enough farm produce,” she says. “We need something to quieten the growling stomach.”
The still-robust will to vote among the most neglected is striking. “In the absence of food, land, work, and good health, my vote is the only privilege I have left,” says the 67-year-old Dhiru Kaka, who lost his son, daughter-in-law and wife to starvation last year in Kashipur, Orissa. Playing with his voter ID card is his 2-year-old grandson, the only family he has left. When Dhiru Kaka made the trip to the polling booth on April 16, it was to cast his vote for the 17th time. “At least for a few months after the election, the winning politician will bring us food,” he says, hugging his grandson. “That is the best we can ever expect.”
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