NEW DELHI: The Centre may unveil a new scheme or enhance one of the existing schemes to improve the welfare of a “target beneficiary group,” ahead of the general election, an person privy to the matter told FE.
Though the details aren’t known, additional support measures for the fishing community are a possibility, the source said, without elaborating. “The government is keen to announce something which will have a greater traction in the southern states,” the source said. Currently, the BJP is not in power in any of the four major southern states.
With record fish production of 175.45 lakh tons in 2022-23, India is the third largest fish-producing country in the world accounting for 8% of global production and contributing about 1.09% to the country’s Gross Value Added (GVA) and over 6.724% to the agricultural GVA. Given the sector’s immense potential to grow, there are calls for focused attention through policy and financial support for sustainable, responsible, inclusive and equitable growth.
Addressing issues such as sustainability practices, export competitiveness, infrastructure gaps and livelihood challenges facing India’s marine fishing industry across states is key to the economic upliftment of fishermen.
Coastal states including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have a large share of India’s fishermen population.
As part of the Covid-19 relief package, the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) was launched for five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with the highest ever total investment of Rs 20,050 crore comprising of Central share of Rs 9,407 crore, state share of Rs 4,880 crore and beneficiaries’ contribution of Rs 5,763 crore.
The PMMSY is designed and implemented to address critical gaps in fish production and productivity, quality, technology, post-harvest infrastructure and management and modernisation and strengthening of value chain, traceability and quality improvement.
To modernize and strengthen fisheries value chain, PMMSY supports creation of post-harvest infrastructure such as fishing harbours/fish landing centres, cold storages and ice plants, fish transportation vehicles including refrigerated and insulated vehicles, ice flaking and ice crushing units, ice/fish holding boxes, etc. with motorcycles, bicycles and auto rickshaws, value addition enterprise units as well as modern hygienic markets such as wholesale fish markets including supermarkets, retail fish markets and outlets, mobile fish and live fish markets.
So far, under PMMSY investments worth Rs 4005.96 crore have been approved for the above-listed activities during the last three financial years.
In the Union Budget 2023-24, a new sub-scheme under the PMMSY has been announced with an investment of Rs.6,000 crore to enable activities of fish vendors, fishermen, and micro and small enterprises for improving value chain efficiencies and expanding the market.
Source: The Financial Express
