Skip to main content

Rajasthan stone quarry workers "adversely impacted" by demonetization, GST, aadhaar: Azim Premji Univ paper

By Our Representative
Goods and Services Tax (GST), introduced by the Government of India in July 2017, was supposed to be a measure to simplify taxation by replacing by all indirect taxes with a single tax. But a new working paper, “Bijolia’s Harvest of Stone: Conditions of Work among Quarrying Labour in Rajasthan”, published by the Azim Premji University, has said, it has badly impacted stone mining business and, subsequently, the daily wage work in sandstone quarries.
Authored by scholar-journalist Anumeha Yadav, and based on her field research between October 2017 and January 2018, the paper quotes Heera Lal Meena, standing at a labour market site waiting to be picked up as a daily wager, “Every year, at this time, over a thousand of us gather at Shakkargarh chowk daily, This year, only 200 of us are coming here, and even of that, 100 return home empty-handed.”
If till recently, the number of workers employed in the quarrying job in and around Bijolia was 25,000, the scholar suggests, it may have shrunk to about 12,000.
Ram Lal Gujjar, another worker, says that there has been “continuous trouble” starting with demonetization, when the Government of India withdrew high currency notes, triggering a cash crunch in November 2016. “First, notebandi wiped out all work for over three-four months. After GST, the cost of building material went up and small traders were struggling. Nearly 75 percent sandstone ‘stocks’ have shut down.”
Ranjit Banjara, a local stone supplier, explains, “Earlier, anyone could source stone from the quarries. They would open a ‘stock’ of sandstone, and hire 10 to 15 kaariga (artisanal miners) and hamaal (freight workers). But local purchasers and traders of sandstone stocks that operated only in cash were wiped out in the months after notebandi and are struggling still.” Adds Gujjar, “When the small entrepreneur has no work, then who will employ daily wagers?”
The paper quotes workers complaining how the official push for a switch to use of bank accounts and aadhaar, a biometrics ID has disrupted even the access to social support of meagre pensions of Rs 500 a month and subsidised grains.
Says a worker, “For every small thing, they say ‘Go to the banks’, but there is no taawar (network) at the banks. At banks as well as ration shops, they ask us give our fingerprints on point of sale machines over and over. If there is even a small cut on our fingers, the authentication fails. Then, they deny us even grains.”
Worse, says the paper, despite a Rajasthan government notification of January 2018, which said that minimum wage of a “stone dresser”, a skilled job, should be Rs 283 a day, workers complained of poor wages. According to Subhash Mehr, though he is in the “highly skilled” category, at Rs 3 for each foot, by the evening, he had cut 80 feet stone, earning Rs 240, much less than the minimum wage.
The paper underlines, “Nearly half, or 53 percent workers, earned a minimum wage in the quarries, mostly men workers, though the workers say the minimum wage set between Rs 213 to Rs 271 a day itself was too low to manage basic expenses of rent, electricity, school fees etc.” It adds, “Of those who did not get a minimum wages, a majority, or 64 percent, were women.”
Rated one of the best in the world, Rajasthan’s sandstone is chiseled easily, and has acid and alkali resistant properties which allow it to weather saline sea winds easily. Thousands of tonnes of sandstone excavated and processed here makes its way through Gujarat’s Kandla port to the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates. Rajasthan contributes 10 percent of the world’s production of sandstone.
Yet, according to the scholar, “While it is not clear to what extent was demonetisation a cause for it, sandstone production slowed down in Bijolia in the past year. Production increased from 19,63,556 lakh tonnes in 2014-15 to 21,01,040 tonnes in 2015-16, and then it fell sharply by almost 50 percent to 11,42,989 tonnes, in 2016-17.”

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative  In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman  ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.