Insurance for diamond workers a non-starter

The much-talked about insurance scheme for over seven lakh diamond cutters and polishers, launched by the Surat Diamond Association (SDA) a month back in Surat, has failed to evince a good response.

Though over 1.5-lakh forms were distributed amongst the workers in different parts of Surat, SDA has received only 1,500 filled forms.

The group insurance scheme envisages a premium payment of just Rs. 225 for an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. Though this was first of its kind insurance scheme to be introduced in the four-decade old diamond industry, the cutters and polishers seems to have not been enthused by the deal.

"New schemes do not succeed overnight", said SDA president Nanubhai Patel. "It would take some time, but the scheme will succeed in the long-run. And as such, it is very difficult to convince people to opt for insurance," Patel added.

A diamond exporter, while accepting that the scheme was good, said the process of filling up the forms was still on. But he agreed that the pace at which the forms were being filled up and being submitted to the SDA was rather slow. "SDA should have marketed the scheme well", he opined.

However, Patel is quick to point out that the SDA had not left any stone unturned to make the scheme a success. "SDA has already spent Rs 1.80 lakh in the pre-launch period", he said. He also claimed that the scheme had evinced good response.

In a meeting, organised by SDA before introducing the scheme, the representatives of the diamond cutting and polishing units had given full support to make the scheme a success.

However, the inherent apprehension of the industry to give full information regarding their employment seems to have played a crucial role in making the insurance scheme a non-starter.

Most of the unit owners and the workers are not ready to part with some of the vital information like tenure of service in present employment, as they fear this might lead to harassment in the future.

Further workers feel that the unit owners should take the responsibility of paying the premium of Rs. 225 per worker. "So far the owners have done anything for us and have not offered us any of our rights. They should at least show the courtesy of paying the premium''.