COVID-19: Jewellers with hearts of gold

India is a uniquely diverse nation where people of all kinds – rich, poor, educated, uneducated, theist, atheists…everyone lives in harmony and come crisis, this peculiarity of the populace is all the more pronounced. Little wonder why the sight of daily wagers marching back to their homelands along the national highway covering hundreds of kilometres on foot stirred the nation’s sympathy and thereafter, help started pouring in from all corners. The privileged class including businessmen, prominent corporate personalities and celebrities took it upon themselves to help the poor and needy to survive this unprecedented health crisis and we are proud to share that the jewellery community is one amongst them.

The gems and jewellery industry is mostly under the scanner and scrutiny. Sometimes, even at the receiving end of the government reform measures.  However, in these trying times, jewellers have looked beyond the game of profit and loss and displayed their generous side. As the nation fights the battle against Coronavirus, the jeweller community has come forward to provide the government with all it takes to contain the pandemic.

Taking cognisance of the jewellery community’s benevolence, The Retail Jeweller delves deeper into how these welfare activities are being carried out and hopes their attempts inspire others too to do their bit in fighting the pandemic.  

Quotes:

Raman Jethi, Director, Krishna Krishna Jewellers, Panipat

We have formed a team of six to eight people that has undertaken the task of distributing around 200 food packets daily amongst the daily wage workers living in slums. We have also set up two sewing centres in Vrindavan and Mathura each, where 62 young girls are making 200 cloth masks every day for the policemen.

Vaibhav Saraf, Director, Aisshpra Gems and Jewels, Gorakhpur

We are the first from our city to give a cheque of Rs. 11 lakhs to the Gorakhpur District Magistrate to provide rations to the daily wage earners of the city. We have also made donations to NGOs such as Rotary Club and Matruchaya(a local NGO) that buys medical/ health supplies and ration for the poor and needy living in the slums. We have also set up a separate CSR team – comprising of 20 to 30 members, for distributing rations amongst the poor people every day. For the same, we have tied up with a few local grocery dealers to prepare dry food grain packets and spend around Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 30,000 every day.

Vikram Verlekar, Director, Ulhas Jewellers, Goa

Ulhas Jewellers has handed over 150 face shields for the first responders and medical professionals who are the frontline people in the fight against Coronavirus pandemic. These acrylic face shields are designed and developed by Infinyt3D and the Centre of Incubation and Business Acceleration (CIBA) in a way that they can be worn multiple times by the workers. Along with the Rotary Club of Margao, we have handed over new blankets, towels, shirts, trousers, face masks and some essentials to Margao municipality for the homeless people. We have also extended the help of 2,000 pairs of gloves and 500 masks to ESI, Hospicio hospitals and garbage workers.

Aayush Khurana, Director, Khurana Jewellery House, Amritsar

We have made donations to various associations like the Guru Bazaar Jewellers Association, Amritsar; the Civil Line Jewellers Association, Amritsar; FICCI FLO, Amritsar; Phulkari, Amritsar and Ek Koshish (an NGO). Apart from monetary aid, we have distributed dry ration kits to one thousand needy families. Each ration kit is sufficient to last around a week to 10 days for a family. It includes five kg atta, two kg rice, one kg daal, one kg salt, one kg refined oil and a soap bar. In case the lockdown continues, we aim to distribute a new batch of kits to these families again in the future.

Seemant Nahata, Shagun Jewellery Boutique, Kolkata

We have recently undertaken the work to distribute ready-to-eat food packets amongst the poor people in the city. Although it is not possible for us to do it every day, we are trying to do it twice a week. We prepare almost 500 food packets each time, which has puri, sabzi and biscuits. We have also distributed almost 3,000 surgical masks across the city amongst the poor, police officers and citizen volunteers. Furthermore, we have 2,000 masks in our stock to be distributed soon.

Pradeep Kothari, Owner, Karan Kothari Jewellers, Nagpur

We took it upon us to feed almost 500 people daily by distributing ready-to-eat food packets amongst the poor and needy. Along with the food packets, we are also distributing soaps to them, so that they can maintain hygiene. We are also providing surgical masks and water bottles to the policemen who are on the roads to protect us.

Namo Jain, MD, Vardhaman Jewellers, Delhi

We are providing free dry rations to more than 300 families daily, since the day the lockdown was announced. That apart, we are also distributing almost 4,000 ready-to-eat food packets every day to the poor. In order to make sure that women do not face any issues during the lockdown, we are even looking to distribute one lakh sanitary napkins amongst them. We are also planning to create awareness amongst the city residents on Coronavirus, if and when we get permission from the government authorities.

Archit Zinzuwadia, Director, Panchratna Jewellers, Ahmedabad

For the past ten days, we have started community kitchens to provide free cooked food to the poor and needy people of the rural areas. So far, six community kitchens have been set up and are running in full capacity across various parts of the city, preparing food for almost 3,000 people. We are also planning to add three more community kitchens soon in Ahmedabad.