Over 6,300 children of jobless diamond cutters in Surat get school fee support from state

A high-level committee meeting was also held with the Surat District Industries Commissioner Jigar Dave, Surat Diamond Association (SDA) president Jagdish Khunt, and other members.

Dave said, “We received 75,000 applications from Surat. In the first lot, 6,094 applications covering 6,368 students from 249 schools have been approved, and Rs 8.28 crore disbursed through banks. We have sent 30,000 applications to the SDA for verification, and around 25,000 have been verified so far. The state government has sanctioned a grant of Rs 15 crore.”

The challenge of verification

The Surat Diamond Association has been tasked with verifying the massive number of applications. To speed up the process, it hired 20 college students, paying them Rs 1,000 per day for tele-calling and cross-checking details with factory owners out of their own “reserved fund”.

“This is the first time we are doing such verification work,” said SDA president Khunt. “The students work from 10 am to 6 pm, making calls, and our 20 trustees remain present daily to sign and stamp verified forms. We verify about 6,000 applications daily and expect to complete the process by next Friday.”

Khunt added that among the 75,000 applications, around 1,500 are from children studying in Saurashtra villages while their parents live in Surat. “We will complete Surat schools first, and then take up others,” he said.

The Opposition had raised the issue in Assembly

On September 9, the Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly Dr Tushar Chaudhary, along with Congress MLAs Amit Chavda and Jignesh Mewani, had demanded clarity from the government on how many students had benefitted from the scheme.

In reply, state cabinet minister Balvantsinh Rajput said 170 applications from Ahmedabad had been cleared, with Rs 24.03 lakh disbursed. Applications from Surat, Amreli, and Botad are still under verification, he said. Government data shows 75,000 applications from Surat, 13,462 from Botad, 3,926 from Ahmedabad, and 2,306 from Amreli.

Industry slowdown and workers’ demands

The relief package was first announced on May 22 by Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi in Surat. Besides school fee support, the package includes multiple measures to help diamond polishers who have been jobless for a year as of March 31, 2024. Applicants must also have at least three years of work experience in the industry.

Bhavesh Tank, vice president of the Diamond Workers Union Gujarat, said, “For the last three years, the diamond industry has been in recession, forcing workers to take up menial jobs just to survive. They live in rented houses and struggle with monthly expenses. This scheme is welcome, but we have two demands: it should continue beyond one year, and the fee limit of Rs 13,500 should be increased to Rs 20,000–25,000.”

From the homepage

US revoked visas of Indian business executives over link to fentanyl trade: Embassy

‘I respect all religions’: CJI Gavai on critical social media posts over his comments in Khajuraho case

France’s Macron to submit ‘photographic, scientific evidence’ that wife Brigitte is a woman