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.

The most affected community from the shutdown is the daily wake workers as there is no work for them. So, we thought to do something for them. We are the first from our city who gave a cheque of Rs 11 lakhs to the Gorakhpur District Magistrate which have been used to provide rations to the daily wage earners of the city. We have been donating to a lot of NGOs such Rotary Club, Matruchaya (a local NGO) who are buying medical/health supplies and rations for the poor and needy and distributing it in the slum areas of the city. We also have a separate CSR team comprising of 20-30 members who are going out every day to distribute rations to the poor people. We are spending around Rs 25,000-30,000 from our pocket for this task. We have tied up with few groceries from the city who prepares dry food grain packets for us to distribute.

Vaibhav Saraf, Director, Aisshpra Gems and Jewels

We have formed a team of 6-8 people including our manager who are tasked to distribute almost 200 food packets daily to the daily wage workers living in slums. We also have 2 sewing centres in Vrindavan and Mathura where 62 young girls are making 200 cloth masks on a daily basis and distributed it amongst the policemen for free.

Raman Jethi, Director, Krishna Krishna Jewellers

Ulhas jewellers have handed over 150 face shields for the first responders and medical professionals who are the frontline in the fight against Coronavirus pandemic. With the lockdown in place, Infinyt3D and the Centre of Incubation and Business Acceleration (CIBA) have designed and developed acrylic face shields that can be worn multiple times by the work workers. Along with Rotary club of Margao, we have handed over new blankets, towels, shirts, trousers, face masks and some essential items to Margao municipality for the homeless people. We have also extended help with 2000 pairs of Gloves and 500 Masks to ESI, Hospicio hospitals and garbage workers.

Vikram Verlekar, Director, Ulhas Jewellers

In the wake of COVID-19, it’s time to give it back to society. Khurana Jewellery House stands to fulfil this need by helping various associations through monetary fundings like Guru Bazaar Jewellers Association, Amritsar, Civil line Jewellers Association, Amritsar, FICCI FLO, Amritsar, Phulkari, Amritsar and Ek Koshish (an NGO). Apart from these forms of monetary aids, we distribution dry ration kits to 1000 needy families as an attempt to help them endure these trying times. Each ration kit is sufficient to last around a week to 10 days for a family and includes 5 kg atta, 2 kg rice, 1 kg daal, 1 kg salt, 1 kg refined oil, 1 soap. In case the lockdown continues, we aim to distribute new kits to these families again in the future.

Aayush Khurana, Director, Khurana Jewellery House

We have recently undertaken the work to distribute ready to eat food packets to the poor people from the city. Although it’s 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 distributed almost 3000 surgical masks across the city to the poor, policemen and civil volunteers who are doing their duties diligently. and currently, we have in stock 2000 masks which we will soon distribute. It gives me satisfaction when I see that every citizen is doing his duty.

Seemant Nahata, Shagun Jewellery Boutique

We are distributing free dry ration such as rice, wheat, pulses to the beggars and poor people from the area who have lost their jobs and business due to the calamity. We have also distributed around 350 high-quality masks and sanitisers to the needy people so that they don’t contradict the virus.

Piyush Soni, Director, Manikchand and Sons

We have so far distributed 1500 masks (surgical and high-quality masks) amongst the slum dwellers from the city. We are also in talks with an engineering institute from the city to fund the prototype of a ventilator. The estimated cost for the manufacturing of the prototype will come to around Rs 6-7 lakhs.

Mehul Oswal, Director, Mahendra Jewellers

We took it upon us to feed almost 500 people daily by distributing ready to eat food packets amongst them. Along with the food packets, we also distribute soaps to them so that they remain clean. We are also trying to take care of the policemen who are standing on roads to protect us by offering them surgical masks and water bottles.

Pradeep Kothari, Owner, Karan Kothari Jewellers

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.

Namo Jain, MD, Vardhaman Jewellers, Delhi

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.

Archit Zinzuwadia, Director, Panchratna Jewellers, Ahmedabad

Courtesy: Retail Jeweller India News Service.