But with the slump, the reverse migration has begun. Hundreds of workers have pulled their children out from school and are returning home, prompting the state government to make a list of school-going children of out-of-work diamond workers’ families in Ahmedabad, Surat, Amreli and Bhavnagar. While the state government sent a directive to schools to grant fee exemption for students from such families, NGOs have now stepped in to help them.

But these steps could be too small to stem the spreading desperation as out-of-job workers turn to stealing. On January 5, Arvind Patel and Anil Solanki were arrested in Surat with bootleg liquor worth Rs 62,000. The two diamond polishers had been unemployed for the last two months. Wanting to return the money they had borrowed from friends, they decided to ferry in liquor from Daman. The same day, Surat police arrested two more out-of-work diamond polishers, Mahesh Koli and Mukesh Patel, while they were trying to break into a shop.  

Political apathy
THE crisis in the diamond industry may have been the cause of many deaths but the gravity of the situation seems to have escaped the state’s political leaders, even though a few of them own diamond units themselves. As the industry suffered losses, the Gujarat government organised a three-day event—Sparkle 2008—in December to showcase its diamond industry. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi too hasn’t announced any relief package for the industry and has instead asked diamond barons to take care of their workers. The state government, in fact, has asked the central government to intervene.

... contd.