Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me an immense pleasure to address you at the Annual Convocation function of the Gemmological Institute of India.

It is a graduation ceremony where the recipients of the Diploma Certificates are accredited with authenticity and authority for your gemological knowledge. It is your hard work and my institute’s motivation helped you to earn this recognition. This is definitely not an end of your gemological career. It is just a humble beginning of Gemmology in your life. You have to go a long way.

Gemmology is a subject and science which has no end in itself, because each gemstone you handle every day has some uniqueness and characteristics of its own.

This unique character of each and every gemstones makes the study of gemology most interesting.

To become an expert in the field of gemology, in addition to your gemological knowledge, you need to have some more qualities.

First and foremost, you should be independent in your decisions which have to be based on scientific results. In other words, you should not allow any one to influence you to certify or identify a gemstone against your will and knowledge.

You must maintain your credibility as a gemologist. Your signature as a gemologist is going to be worth millions of dollars. You have to be careful before issuing a report or a certificate for gemstones. You must also keep abreast with the developments in the field of gemology.

The gem industry in India and across the globe needs your co-operation and support to build a scientific infrastructure on which the future of the industry could be built more and stronger.

The Indian Gem & Jewellery industry is facing serious competition from the Inter national markets. To overcome the challenges faced by the industry we need to educate the industry and also we need the young and qualified gemologists. With this end in view Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council has taken up a massive education and awareness programme in all parts of the country. Schools have been established in Delhi , Jaipur, Surat and Mumbai and supported by the Council. Gemological Education has taken on priority in the development programme of the Council and trade organization in the country.

With the active support of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, the GII has established the National Research Center . As you all know the fact that the Research and Development is extremely vital for the development and growth of any industry.

Our industry in India has shown a remarkable growth during the last few decades. At the same time the industry should also have a strong scientific base. It is therefore absolutely essential to have a scientific infrastructure to protect the industry from outside threats and also to give a boost to its growth. The diamond and coloured stone sectors of the industry are facing very serious problems concerning with enhancement of colour by treatments and also of synthetics. Diamond sector all over the world is passing through a major challenge on account of HPHT treatment and synthetics. If these threats are not addressed properly in a given time frame, there could be serious impact on consumer confidence in diamonds.

Gemmological laboratories all over the world have taken this issue on a war footing. In India, sensing the gravity and seriousness of the problem the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council under the leadership of Shri Sanjaybhai Kothari and other able elders have decided to set up a “National Research Center” to protect and develop the interest of the Gem & Jewellery industry in India. Towards the fulfillment of this project Council has already supported GII to establish a nucleus R & D Cell at Sukh Sagar, Opera House. The R & D Centre was inaugurated during the last year by the Commerce Secretary, Government of India. Council has already contributed substantial amount of money towards the initial import of some of the very essential equipments. The project envisages a national level research center catering to the needs of the industry, with a capital investment of almost 35 crores of rupees. GII has already approached the Government of India for a partial financial support and assured that an equal amount will be contributed by the industry. I therefore appeal to the industry to take up this matter very seriously for the reason being that, I am told, our neighboring countries are already into mass scale manufacturing of synthetic and HPHT treated diamonds.

One of the major worries the world jewellery industry has today is that if the synthetic diamond manufactures start supplying small size diamonds to the jewellery sectors, there could be a serious threat to the consumer confidence in diamond studded jewellery. It is not humanly possible to identify synthetic diamonds without the help of highly sophisticated laboratory equipments. As a matter of fact along with the high tech instruments, trained manpower is also equally important.

To cope up with the expansion activities of the Research Centre, Gemmological Institute of India has engaged the services of Dr. Sastri who is one of the top most Scientists in India.

Dr. Sastri was the Head of the Spectroscopy Division of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. After his retirement from BARC, Gemmological Institute of India has appointed him as a Senior Consultant to the R. & D. Department of the Gemmological Institute of India.

I assure you that our determination is very strong. Council and all other major Trade Organizations have already decided to combat the challenges faced by the industry by upgrading the laboratory facilities and research activities. I am sure in a short period of time the Indian industry will have a sound and strong scientific infrastructure to support the growth of the +industry.

I take this opportunity to thank my industry members for their valuable support to Gemmological Institute of India. I also congratulate my students for their achievement and I wish them all success. I also thank the staff members of the Institute and my colleagues for their whole hearted support and co-operation in building GII to further heights.