Young ‘Brides’ Have Good Resale Value

With drought in Maharashtra, ‘selling’ and ‘reselling’ of brides is likely to become an increasingly lucrative business for nefarious elements—the bride agents. 

It has been known that the agents scour Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu to look for prospective brides for men from gender-skewed regions of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, western regions of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district, which has been officially tagged as one of the most backward districts in the country, has become one of favoured hunting spots for these agents.

A recent case, in which five adolescent girls went missing from the district, saw the political mercury in the district soar and the police swing into action. It was a 700-kilometre trail that the police had to follow. With the five girls from the slum being sold as ‘brides’ to desperate unmarried men in Madhya Pradesh, a special team of the Maharashtra Police had to pursue the case in Ashok Nagar district in the neighbouring state. Led by Assistant Inspector Yogesh Pardhi, the Maharashtra Police team was determined to bring back the girls, aged between 16 and 20.

What Pardhi and his team learnt during the investigation was quite intriguing. The police had managed to arrest one of the agents who had sold one of the minor girls to a man from Shadora village in Ashok Nagar in Madhya Pradesh. Police team found out that the agents who sold off those women got Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 for every woman sold. However, one of the five girls from Chandrapur, who had been sold for Rs 30,000, had returned to her agent owing to the ill-treatment at the hands of her owner. The agent was too happy to resell her a second time and pocketed Rs 35,000. Pardhi had no answer as to why the girl did not return to her family when she had the opportunity, and instead approached her agent.

Though Pardhi had no answers, Shafiqur Rehman Khan of Campaign Against Bride Trafficking has them. “The ceremony solemnising such marriages are most appropriately called as Thag Vivah (cheat marriage). Rarely does the bride enjoy the social status of a wife. These women are either known as Paro brides, as in stolen, or Molki brides as in purchased,” said Khan. He explains Molki brides have to physically satisfy more than one person and also double as labourer on the fields.

The trading of brides also means that the few genuine bride seekers are finding it difficult to ‘stay’ married. When a 50-year-old businessman from Jaipur in Rajasthan had married a bride from Maharashtra, he thought it was coincidence that the two brides that he had earlier purchased from agents had run away. In two months the man has spent Rs 2.50 lakh on three brides. 

However, his third bride from Maharashtra too ran away. Subsequent police investigation revealed that agents and the brides were hand-in glove and were sold again. The agents are finding selling brides more lucrative than dealing in brothels. And more than the buyers, the agents are more keen to sell brides owing to demand in northern states. Khan fears that with drought in Maharashtra, agents would have a field day recruiting new brides as poor families are happy to have one less mouth to feed.

Though Khan believes that it is difficult to put a precise number on the quantum of bride trafficking, he estimates that there are about dozen such brides in every village of Haryana. As agents come up with offers of new brides, the time spent by the bride in particular household is also limited. “The old brides are sold to procure new ones. It is very similar to the cattle market. The market for brides as per our study is growing steadily at the rate 20 per cent every year,” said Khan.

Over 1,000 IAS Officers Fail To Submit Property Returns

Over 1,000 IAS officers have failed to submit their immovable property returns (IPRs) to the government within the stipulated time frame this year.

Of the total of 1,057 officers who did not submit their IPRs for 2012, a highest of 147 are from Uttar Pradesh cadre, 114 of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT), 100 of Manipur-Tripura, 96 of Jammu and Kashmir and 88 of Madhya Pradesh cadre among others, according to Department of Personnel and Training data.

Suspended IAS couple Arvind and Tinoo Joshi of MP cadre are also among the list of erring officials. Joshis, both 1979 batch officers of Madhya Pradesh cadre, made headlines after Income Tax department raided their residence in February, 2010 and allegedly unearthed assets worth over Rs 350 crore.

58 IAS officers of Karnataka cadre, 53 of Andhra Pradesh, 48 of Punjab, 47 of Orissa, 45 of West Bengal, 40 of Himachal Pradesh, 35 of Haryana, 25 of Jharkhand, 23 of Assam-Meghalaya, 22 of Rajasthan, 20 of Tamil Nadu, 17 of Maharashtra, 16 of Nagaland, 14 of Gujarat, 13 of Bihar, 10 of Kerala, nine each of Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh and eight of Sikkim cadre have not given their IPRs, it said.

The total sanctioned strength of IAS is 6,217, including 1,339 promotion posts. Of these, 4,737 officers are in position.

An all-India service officer is bound to file property returns of a year by January end of the following year, failing which promotion and empanelment to senior level postings may be denied.

Besides, there are 107 IAS officers who have not submitted their IPRs for 2011. As many as 198 IAS officials did not give their property details for 2010. “A circular has already been sent to all cadre
controlling authorities to inform them about timely submission of their IPRs,” said an official of the DoPT, which acts as a nodal agency for administrative matters of the IAS officers.

Jaswant Singh To Advani: Is BJP Treating 'Old Guard Right'?

By Chandrakant Naidu (Guest Writer)

Bilochan Prasad, 54, hails from Chhapra in Bihar but, has spent half his life plying auto-rickshaws in Delhi. He is quite amused by the milling crowds at the headquarters of various political parties during the ticket distribution season. “If Narendra Modiji wants to come to power to fight the bad parties, why does he need so many from those very parties?” he asks about a stream of new inductees being offered tickets for Lok Sabha. 

INDIA'S RICHEST POLITICIANS

Editor Speaks: There’s an old saying that money is the mother’s milk of politics. In the Indian context, it’s more a question of milking the state. We have reached a level of cohabitation where money, corruption and unethical deal-making occupy the same bed. Increasingly, people are joining politics to make money or stay out of jail. Money power is the dominant factor in today’s electoral politics.

Back in the mid-90s when HNN was launched, I remember meeting politicians who were struggling to make ends meet. When we featured them next, they had become overnight millionaires. The point is not that we can’t have wealthy politicians but the question of how they earned their wealth. I am sure there are many legitimately rich politicians but politics increasingly resembles a profitable business rather than a public service today.

It wasn’t always so. Money power has played a positive role in politics: Industrialist G.D. Birla bankrolled Gandhi’s campaigns and along with other businessmen entered politics inspired by the freedom movement. It was in the late ’60s, when ‘Aya Ram Gaya Ram’ entered the political vocabulary, that money became a major factor. Since then the situation has only worsened with the dawn of coalition governments in the late ’80s.

With the likelihood of not being returned for the next term, they make hay while the sun shines and quite blatantly. No wonder many of these governments have been termed as ‘cash and carry’ ones. These days, it’s almost impossible to find a poor politician except among the Left parties. Adding to the scenario is the fact that a large number of businessmen have joined politics in recent years, either elected or nominated by various parties.

So who are India’s richest politicians? Thanks to a Supreme Court ruling in 2002, the filing of assets data is mandatory by anyone contesting an election. In order to establish exactly who are India’s rich politicians, we undertook a study along with EmpoweringIndia, an initiative of the Liberty Institute led by Barun Mitra. It took three months of exhaustive research at the Election Commission and Rajya Sabha Secretariat by staffers Swati Reddy and Kajol Singh under the supervision of Editor in Chief M H Ahssan to list the richest politicians whose submissions are open to debate.

The filing of assets data is mandatory but not verified. Some legislators have shown an increase in wealth of over 500 per cent in four years. Yet, the statistics are revealing. Of the 215 Rajya Sabha members for which we have data, 105 are crorepatis. Of the 522 Lok Sabha members, 135 are crorepatis.

Members of legislative assemblies seem wealthier than many of the MPs. The top five MLAs across the 30 states are worth Rs 2,042 crore. Uttar Pradesh has the richest chief minister and 113 crorepati MLAs. One indication of how this money has been accumulated is that of 150 wealthiest MLAs, 59 don’t even have a PAN card! Our cover story looks at India’s richest politicians across various categories. A handful are legitimate businessmen, the rest only serve to reinforce the dubious nexus between power and money.

Richest politicians
A lean bare man on the banks of a river near Champaran, his eyes moist with sadness, letting go of his shawl for a poor woman downstream to cover herself and her child. This poignant moment from Richard Attenborough’s biopic on Gandhi is perhaps the most eloquent image of selfless politics.

The gentle giant—loved as Bapu and revered as the Mahatma—epitomised the philosophy of public service as one who gave up everything to be one among the huddled millions. Nearly a century later there is little evidence—in reel or real life—of the high moral ground once straddled by that generation.

The brazen parade of the Prada Prado set zipping across cities in cavalcades, appropriating security funded by public money is evidence that politics has since morphed into a largely self-serving enterprise. The pretense of khadi and Gandhian values went out of vogue with the Gandhi cap long before the Gucci generation stormed the political arena in the 1980s.

The transition is best described by Rajiv Gandhi who said at the Congress Centenary in Mumbai in 1985 that politics has been reduced to “brokers of power and influence, who dispense patronage to convert mass movement into feudal oligarchy”. Yes there are those who enter politics to serve the public cause but they are exceptions rather than the rule. Entering public life is now an investment of time and effort for dividends to be earned from political entrepreneurship. A joint study by HNN and EmpoweringIndia (an initiative of the Liberty Institute) of the reported assets of our elected representatives reveals a startling contrast between the rulers and the ruled.

In a country where over 77 per cent of the populace, or an estimated 836 million people, earn an income of Rs 20 per day and over 300 million are living below the poverty line, nearly half the Rajya Sabha members and nearly a third of those from the Lok Sabha are worth a crore and more. Just the top ten Rajya Sabha members and the top ten Lok Sabha members have reported a cumulative net asset worth Rs 1,500 crore. The 10 top losers in the last Lok Sabha polls—including Nyimthungo of Nagaland who reported total assets of Rs 9,005 crore —is Rs 9,329 crore. Members of legislative assemblies seem wealthier than many MPs. The top five MLAs across the 30 states are worth Rs 2,042 crore. Of these 150 crorepati MLAs, 59 don’t even have a PAN card.

And don’t look for a correlation between the state of the state and the wealth of the legislators. Uttar Pradesh boasts of the largest number of people—59 million or over a third of its population—living below the poverty line. Not only is Mayawati the richest chief minister in 30 states, the state also boasts of 113 crorepati MLAs. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh which has over 25 million of the 60 million people living below the poverty line boasts of 80 crorepati MLAs. The Marxists are the stark exception in this study too. The CPI(M) has 301 MLAs across 10 states but has only two MLAs with declared assets of over Rs 1 crore. Of the 537 candidates who contested on a CPI(M) ticket, only seven had assets of over Rs 1 crore, of which five lost in the elections.

As the old maxim goes, power begets power and money attracts riches. Clearly, it pays to be in power. Take the last round of Assembly elections which afforded the study an opportunity to compare the increase in wealth. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where the BJP was in power, the average assets of candidates increased by five times.

In Karnataka too where the Congress ruled in rotation with Deve Gowda’s JD(S), Congress candidates reported a fivefold rise in their assets. Mercifully, wealth doesn’t always ensure success. In all, 365 crorepatis contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2004; 88 lost their deposits, and 114 came second.

Last December in Delhi the Congress learnt this important lesson again when they found that Congress candidates who lost in Delhi were on an average richer than those who won. But wealth clearly does matter, all other things being constant.

The caveat emptor here, as with all matters concerning transparency in public life, is that we are going by what the political class has chosen to declare. After all, the statement of assets filed by candidates is at best a confession of sorts mandated by two Supreme Court judgements of May 2002 and March 2003.

There are several gaps in the information available. Of the 542 Lok Sabha members, details of assets are available for only 522. Similarly in the Rajya Sabha, only 215 members have filed details of assets.

There is no institutional mechanism to cross-check facts, nor is there a requirement for candidates to declare the source of wealth, or the increase in wealth of candidates in subsequent declarations. In Mizoram for instance, none of the 10 top candidates have reported possessing a PAN card even though their wealth is in excess of Rs 1 crore.

What is worse is that although MPs who are ministers file annual statements of their assets, the information is not available to the public. This virtually negates the concept of scrutiny that would prevent misuse of position of power and enrichment. Indeed, what should be openly available is denied even under the Right to Information Act.

It is tragic that the Office of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh—who has been described as integrity personified—has been made party to this decision to deny the information. Again, while Central ministers are required to file a statement of assets, there is no such requirement for ministers in states.

The adulterous cohabitation of power and pelf is conspicuous across the political spectrum. The chasm between the declared and perceived reality is all too obvious to be missed. Contrast the wealth reported and wealthy lifestyles of those elected to high office.

Clearly the tip of the benami iceberg has not even been touched. In a country with a stark asymmetry in opportunities and ability, political power enables bending and twisting of policy, converting politics into the elevator politicians ride to reach the pot of gold. Living room conversations in middle and upper middle class homes are dotted with whose son, daughter or son-in-law is raking it in using the benami route to accumulate property and assets.

Television footage of currency notes being waved in Parliament during the last trust vote, the airborne campaigns witnessed during the polls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, money spent in fielding dummy candidates, funding of party offices, travel in Toyota SUVs costing over Rs 75 lakh each and private charters that politicians avail of to fly within the country are all pointers that are hard to ignore.

Bankers and brokers talk in not so hushed tones about the role of politicians in corporate scams. There is also speculation about the real beneficiary and benami ownership of at least two airlines, several real estate ventures, pharmaceutical units and infrastructure companies. The corporate concept of ‘sleeping partner’ has a whole new connotation in the political world. As long as the real incomes, wealth and funding of politicians remain opaque, governance will continue to suffer and democracy will be rendered more often on the liability side in the balance sheet of development.

Television footage of currency notes being waved in Parliament during the last trust vote, the airborne campaigns witnessed during the polls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, money spent in fielding dummy candidates, funding of party offices, travel in Toyota SUVs costing over Rs 75 lakh each and private charters that politicians avail of to fly within the country are all pointers that are hard to ignore.

Bankers and brokers talk in not so hushed tones about the role of politicians in corporate scams. There is also speculation about the real beneficiary and benami ownership of at least two airlines, several real estate ventures, pharmaceutical units and infrastructure companies. The corporate concept of ‘sleeping partner’ has a whole new connotation in the political world. As long as the real incomes, wealth and funding of politicians remain opaque, governance will continue to suffer and democracy will be rendered more often on the liability side in the balance sheet of development.

Wealth leadership
1. T. Subbarami Reddy
Indian National Congress
Rajya Sabha, Andhra Pradesh
Total Assets: Rs 239.6 cr

2. Jaya Bachchan
Samajwadi Party
Rajya Sabha, Uttar Pradesh
Total Assets: Rs 214.3 cr

3. Rahul Bajaj
Independent
Rajya Sabha, Maharashtra
Total Assets: Rs 190. 6 cr

4. Anil H. Lad
Indian National Congress
Rajya Sabha, Karnataka
Total Assets: Rs 175 cr

5. M. Krishnappa
Indian National Congress
MLA, Vijay Nagar, Karnataka
Total Assets: Rs 136 cr

6. MAM Ramaswamy
Janata Dal (Secular)
Rajya Sabha, Karnataka
Total Assets Rs 107.7 cr

7. Anand Singh
BJP
MLA, Vijayanagara, Karnataka
Total Assets: Rs 239 cr

8. Anil V. Salgaocar
Independent
MLA, Sanvordem, Goa
Total Assets: Rs 91.4 cr

9. N.A. Haris
Indian National Congress
MLA, Shanti Nagar, Karnataka
Total Assets: Rs 85.3 cr

10. Mahendra Mohan
Samajwadi Party
Rajya Sabha, Uttar Pradesh
Total Assets: Rs 85 cr

Analysis: Why The Farmers' Protests Could Be The Beginning Of A Turning Point For The BJP?

The ongoing farmers' protests in several states across India's geographical diversity is the first major non-sectarian mass movement confronting the Narendra Modi government. Unless handled adroitly, the stir has the potential to throw up a major challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party and Modi's political dominance.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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