BBC Hindi” I feel sick if I do n’t search for diamonds. It’s like a drug”.
Prakash Sharma, 67, shares his love for pearls, which has defined his life for the past five decades.
A stone warrior in India’s northern state of Madhya Pradesh, he spends most of his day in the mining of Panna area.
Panna is among the region’s most back regions- its occupants face hunger, water scarcity, and unemployment. However, it also holds the majority of India’s diamond reserves and is still a popular destination for stone hunters.
State authorities lease out tiny parcels of land to future miners annually at minimum prices, whereas the majority of mine are managed by the federal government. The city has the country’s even mechanised gemstone mine.
But, once known for its big and unique finds, diamonds mines of Panna are rundown today. Its deposits have declined as a result of decades of over-mining.
Despite this decrease, cheerful miners continue their mission.
They must turn over their discoveries to the state gemstone office, which reviews the stones and sells them at an auction.
The miners receive a melancholy praise for their tireless digging after deducting revenues and taxes.
Mr. Sharma claims that in 1974, right after graduating from high school, he began digging for pearls, following in the footsteps of his parents, who was once a well-known stone warrior in his community.
He immediately hit the jackpot after he found a six-carat stone, which was worth a fortune 50 years ago.
That, he says, fuelled a interest in him to maintain searching for more.
Instead of working for the government, he claims,” I wanted to keep doing this.”
BBC HindiMr. Sharma is one of the many young and old people who, in an effort to break the cycle of poverty, spends his days working in the mines.
In the morning, the miners begin digging through the sand. They therefore wash, clean, and sift through it until twilight to find diamonds. Their communities support them in their jobs.
It’s a physiologically demanding job- but for the citizens of Panna, it’s an inherent part of their lives, discussions and hopes for a better prospect.
For some, stone looking is a community tradition passed down through generations.
Shyamlal Jatav, 58, comes from one for home. His father started the project, and his brother, who works in the mines part-time while balancing his studies, is now doing it.
Mr Jatav says his father found some diamonds, but in those times, they did not sell for many.
However, with some of these stones then selling for tens of millions of pounds, things have changed.
One of the few fortunate people is Raja Gound. A worker by vocation, he was neck-deep in debt when he found a large 19.22-carat stone in July.
He sold the diamond at a government auction for about 8m rupees ($ 95, 178, £72, 909 ).
Mr. Gound claimed to have been leasing mine in the hope of finding a diamond for more than ten years.
Getty ImagesIndia has always been a significant player in the gemstone industry. For more than 3, 000 times, it was the world’s ultimate diamond source.
With revelations in Brazil and South Africa in the 18th century, this changed.
But Panna’s reputation as a gateway for diamond has endured.
The district’s Majhgawan mine, operated by the state-controlled National Mineral Development Corporation ( NMDC ), is the country’s only organised source of diamond production.
NMDC began mining in 1968 and by 2024, it had extracted over 1.3 million carats of diamonds.
Although anyone may mine diamonds in Panna, and at a low price, the majority of hunters steer clear of selling their gold.
There was a large market for illegally mined diamond, according to several citizens, but the precise figures of the business are unfamiliar.
A black-market vendor, who did not want to be named, said individuals sell their sees improperly to avoid fees and to ensure fast payments.
” If they go through formal programs, they only get paid after the stone is sold at auction, which can sometimes get years”, he said.
Because the majority of the diamonds mined are relatively small and do not command higher prices, Panna’s mine official Ravi Patel claims that authorities have taken steps to stop illegal sales but it’s challenging to trace them.
Officers acknowledge that there has been a decrease in the amount of diamonds that have been deposited for state auctions.
In 2016, the company received 1, 133 pearls, but the statistics shrank to only 23 in 2023.
Anupam Singh, a federal diamond appraiser in Panna, says restrictions on mine are behind this drop.
” The forest ministry has marked off major areas, turning them into no-go areas for stone hunting”, Mr Singh said.
BBC HindiThe Panna Tiger Reserve’s more than 50 lions live it, and recent government initiatives have raised many issues for the workers.
Diamond miners who when operated in wooded areas, including the reserve’s buffer zone, are prohibited from mining it and face severe penalties if found guilty.
Despite the difficulties and difficulties, thousands of men still labor in the deep mine, hoping to reverse their fate.
After the Covid-19 quarantine ended all the labor and planting work in his home, Prakash Majumdar began digging for pearls in 2020.
Within a quarter of mining, Mr. Majumdar, who was hungry and struggling to feed his family, discovered his second diamond, for 2.9 million rupees.
Since then, a lot has changed, including his election as the elected town leader and his family’s relocation to a practical home.
Still, his relentless search for more continues.
” Diamond looking will continue to be a part of my life, and I’m not going anywhere until I find a job,” he said.