The National Fisherfolk Forum, a federation of state level fishermen organisations, has demanded Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to recognize fisheries on a par with agriculture and provide all the facilities to fishermen that are presently being given to the farmers. The forum also demanded setting up of a separate ministry for fisheries and fishermen welfare. Presently, the fisheries department is under the ministry of agriculture. M Ilango, chairperson of the Forum, said though, fisheries is being considered an allied activity of agriculture since long ago, fishermen are not enjoying the benefits and facilities that farmers are enjoying. “Like farmers, fishermen also suffer due to natural calamities, but it is only the farmers who get all the attention and benefits. So we want the government to provide us loans to purchase boats at lesser interest rate,” Ilango demanded. Ilango also demanded that fisher folk be recognised as tribals as recommended by Mandal commission. “It will not only ensure reservation for children of fishermen in education and employment, but also ensure political reservation,” he said. Ilango noted that the fishermen’s contribution to the GDP was 0.83% in the last financial year and they were expecting a proportionate Rs. 13,000 crore allocation for fisheries in 2016-17 budget. But the center allocated just Rs. 575.34 crore. “We need a justifiable budget allocation for fisheries, he added.
2017 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.