Maybe the line from Rihanna’s famous song, “You’re beautiful like diamonds in the sky” could actually ring true. In central India, a debt-ridden labourer’s life was “changed forever”, after he unearthed a 19.22-carat diamond worth $95,500, which is equivalent to ₹ 80 lakh.
Hailing from Madhya Pradesh , 40-year-old Raju Gond, and his younger brother Rakesh, work in the fields and diamond mines to provide for their family. They earn around ₹ 800 daily to dig for gold in a 690-square-foot) plot of government land. They were mining in Krishna Kalyanpur, when Raju came across the diamond, reported CNN.
Gond could tell that the rock he had laid his hands upon, had to be a diamond , given its spectacular shine. “It shone spectacularly; I knew it was a diamond right then!” Gond told CNN. Soon after, the Gond brothers got onto their bikes and travelled home to share the news with their family.
Later, the duo took their mother to the local Panna Diamond Office to have the stone evaluated. Anupam Singh, the diamond examiner, has told CNN that it is “a white diamond of 19.22 carat”.
It was valued at about $95,500. Panna, the city in Madhya Pradesh, was also known for its rich diamond reserves, added the diamond examiner. Singh further recounted instances from the past, when several diamonds had been found .
“In 1961, someone found a 54.55-carat diamond, then in 2018 someone found a 42-carat diamond, and now this,” he said, adding that smaller diamonds were also found earlier this year. ‘Felt compelled to search for diamonds’ The report also mentioned that the government leases shallow mines to families who want to look for gemstones under the supervision of local officials.
According to Anupam Singh, the government takes an 11.5% royalty for any find and levies a small tax. CNN stated that the remaining amount is credited to the miner.
According to the CNN report, the monsoon weather, which had earlier washed away Gond’s work opportunities, actually proved to be a boon in disguise. “Rather than sit at home, the family felt compelled to search for diamonds,” mentioned the report..
