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Interestingly, Odisha is the first state in the country that formulated a Gemstone Policy and until now it is the only state credited with such an achievement. The state first brought out a comprehensive Gemstone Policy in 1994 and revised it to publish the Odisha Gemstone Policy, 1998. Since then, a couple of attempts have been made to bring out a new policy, the most notable of which was during the year 2016, when the Government conducted elaborate exercises like holding a workshop, consulting the stakeholders and formulating a draft policy. However, the Draft Odisha Gemstone Policy, 2016 has not been finalised or notified yet.
Odisha is blessed with a bounty of gemstone resources --- Agate, Almandine, Alexandrite, Apatite, Aquamarine, Amethyst, Beryl, Chrysoberyl Cat’s eye, Corrundum, Emerald, Enstatite, Fibrolite, Goshenite, Heliodor, Hessonite, Iolite, Moonstone, Rhodolite, Ruby, Sapphire, Silimanite, Topaz, Tourmaline, Zirco- the list is long.
Considering the necessity of application of the latest technological know-how in gemstone exploration, the Government of Odisha during the early nineties, implemented the UNDP-assisted programme for gemstone exploration in the gemstone-bearing tracts of Odisha. The project continued successfully under the nodal authority of the state Directorate of Mining and Geology. As many as 28 gem belts were delineated in the districts of Angul, Boudh, Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Keonjhar, Koraput, Nuapada, Rayagada and Sambalpur. A well-equipped state-of-the-art Gemstone Laboratory was set up within the state Directorate to provide commercial gem testing services to public. Besides, the laboratory is also engaged in the characterisation and identification of samples of precious and semi-precious stones unearthed during the exploration activities and those seized by police from clandestine operators. The laboratory, unfortunately, is currently limping without adequate manpower and equipment. Through recent exploration activities by the government, potential occurrences of beryl and emerald in the Pokharidiha area of Mayurbhanj district have been discovered, which has been included as the 29th Gemstone Belt of the State.
It is unfortunate that in spite of a huge resource base and continuous reporting of a large number of clandestine operations, the official mining or lapidary activity in the state continues to be negligible. To date, most of the gemstones mined in Odisha have found their way to the lapidary industry and trade centres like Surat and Mumbai and even faraway countries like Thailand; mostly through clandestine routes. The state has neither been able to harvest the royalty nor has generated any notable employment through mining or lapidary activity. Although skilled manpower from the state makes up a good percentage of the workforce in the lapidary units of Surat and Mumbai, there is no facility here in the state to use their services. Most of these people are from Ganjam.
Aim of Odisha Gemstone Policy 1994 was to streamline the mining activities, purchasing the clandestinely mined gemstones from local people by setting up fair price camps at the catchment areas through Odisha Mining Corporation and value addition by setting up lapidary units in the state to process the stones. However, the policy was in dire need of amendment soon as it fell short of achieving any of the objectives. For instance, poor villagers or farmers getting a few gemstones from their land could not sell it to OMC as officials of OMC were not readily available at the site. So, they had to sell them cheaply to the cunning middlemen from outside, camping in the area round the year and nudging the poor villagers constantly to sell their findings. Although OMC managed to secure a small percentage of the local produce, most of it found its way outside the state through an unofficial route.
Based upon the experience drawn after the implementation of the policy of 1994, The Odisha Gemstone Policy 1998 was brought out with some revisions, notable of which was to appoint a number of Trading Licensees under the Orissa Minerals (Prevention of Theft, Smuggling and Unlawful Activities) Act, 1989 and also induct them simultaneously as Sub-agents of OMC in respect of all non-leasehold areas for which OMC continued as agent of the State Government. The Gemstone Policy of 1998 has not been able to achieve anything to date. Why would one have a trading license by paying Rs 1 lakh, when he was able to trade freely without one!
Sadly, there has been no notable attempt during the last 25 years to organise the gemstone sector of the state, and a whopping quantity of this invaluable wealth has already been taken away clandestinely without any benefit to the state or its people. It is high time to assess the situation and bring out a new comprehensive policy for exploration, mining, processing, cutting and polishing for overall sustainable development of the gemstone resources of the state, which holds the key to the generation of sizeable royalty and numerous employment opportunities for the people of the state.
(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are the author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
