I just do not understand the Indian craze for gold - the 'festival' Akshaya Tritiya is around the corner and the marketing of gold has reached a frenzy. Gold is the cause of much distress in our country - witness the grief it brings to the millions who are the victims of unreasonable demand for it: the aged father-in-law and the young bride being two entrenched examples. Yet, no one, least of all the jewellery maker, learns. New ways are found to perpetuate this demand and the 'festival' is one such way.
Here's the odd part: gold has really no use; the bulk of it being used as an investment, the rest as jewellery that spends most of its time in a bank locker. Its investment record - if we were to 'normalise' the price trends of the last few years and look at a larger time frame - is, at best, average.
Here's the worst part: gold is a metal that kills. It is mined either by large corporations that move 250 tonnes of rock for just enough gold for a ring and then process this rock with cyanide or by artisans who use mercury @ 2-5 grams for every gram of gold recovered. Gold is an environmental catastrophe. Three additional sources of information are given below:
1. National Geographic - issue of January 2009
2. www.rootcause.in/gold.html
3. www.nodirtygold.org
The best thing we can do for the planet is to avoid buying gold. Being a responsible consumer is the single best way to drive change.
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