Jewellers call for strike on Aug 23; government urges them to reconsider - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Jewellers call for strike on Aug 23; government urges them to reconsider

Aug 22, 2021 12:17 AM IST

PUNE: Jewellers in Maharashtra have called for a one-day statewide strike on August 23 to protest what they term as “penal provisions and arbitrary implementation of the hallmarking process with unique id (HUID) on jewellery by changing the Bureau of Indian Standards’ (BIS’) old yet simple system”

PUNE: Jewellers in Maharashtra have called for a one-day statewide strike on August 23 to protest what they term as “penal provisions and arbitrary implementation of the hallmarking process with unique id (HUID) on jewellery by changing the Bureau of Indian Standards’ (BIS’) old yet simple system”. However the government on Saturday urged the All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) to reconsider its decision to go on strike, asserting that the mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery in 50 days of its first phase of implementation has been a “grand success”.

HT Image
HT Image

The Pune Saraf Association (PSA) claimed that the HUID is not concerned with the purity of jewellery and is against customers’ interests and the concept of ease-of-doing-business. The PSA stated that the process adopted for HUID is impractical and that it interferes with citizens’ data privacy and business secrecy.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

Fatechand Ranka, president of the PSA, said, “HUID is a destructive process and does not guarantee jewellers’ safety. Apart from HUID, elements such as cancellation of registration, penal provisions, and search and seizure will ultimately institute ‘inspector raj’ in the country. This is nothing but harassment of customers and MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) jewellers.”

Only 256 out of the 741 districts in India have been brought under the mandatory hallmarking system from June 16, 2021 and according to the PSA, the BIS does not have the infrastructure or control over hallmarking centres given that over 480 centres have been cancelled, suspended or de-recognised for fake/wrong hallmarking or sample failing between 2016 and 2020.

Ranka said, “On failure of samples, jewellers face criminal liability or prosecution which is unconstitutional as the purity has been tested and stamped by third parties that are hallmarking centres.”

While the system of marking on ornaments traditionally involves four stages namely, BIS logo, purity mark, house mark of hallmarking centre, and jeweller’s mark, the new mandate does not include the last two stages which according to jewellers will lead to future disputes at the time of remaking or selling the ornaments. According to the PSA, as the HUID system is very slow and takes five to 10 days to hallmark, industry production will come to a standstill and while it will be impossible to hallmark ornaments in just three to four years, the longer turnaround time of the manufacturer will result in loss of employment and increase in jewellery costs. Ranka said that due to the new draconian provision, the livelihoods of the gems and jewellery industry’s nearly five crore dependents will be at stake, and penal and criminal charges on jewellers who have not manufactured or hallmarked the jewellery and sold it like traders will eventually result in the winding up of business.

Ranka said, “The industry’s demand that the Niti Aayog report on hallmarking be considered as a benchmark while framing the BIS Act has not been taken into consideration. Hallmarking should be based on point-of-sale as proposed by the jewellers while all other applications of storage, display, transit, and exhibit-to-sale etc. should be removed from the BIS Act and regulations. The industry has recommended that the standard for 22carat be increased from 916 to 918 as part of its commitment to offer quality jewellery to consumers.”

Meanwhile, Pramod Kumar Tiwari, director general of the BIS, while addressing a press conference in Delhi on the progress made in hallmarking in India, said, “The hallmarking scheme is turning out to be a grand success, with more than 1 crore pieces of jewellery hallmarked in a short period of time.”

Tiwari stressed that the scheme has been a grand success thanks to the jewellers’ support and cooperation which is demonstrated by the fact that the number of registered jewellers has increased to 91,603; the number of jewellery pieces received for hallmarking has increased to one crore and seventeen lakh; and the number of jewellery pieces hallmarked has increased to one crore and two lakh from July 1 to August 20, 2021.

“The number of jewellers who sent their jewellery for hallmarking has increased from 5,145 (July 1 to July 15) to 14,349 (August 1 to 15) this year; and 861 AHCs have started hallmarking as per the HUID system,” Tiwari said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On