Page 57 - Mann ki Baat (English)

ran a fish processing unit but employment in Minicoy.
recognised that without reliable These accounts reflect
cold storage, her potential was a defining feature of India’s
limited. Under PMMSY, she set up a fisheries transformation:
cold storage facility — a decision it is not being driven from
that transformed her business above alone. PMMSY provides
entirely. Before it, processing was financial assistance to fishers,
restricted to fresh fish alone. With fish farmers, fish workers, fish
cold storage operational, her vendors, Self Help Groups,
unit, Minmas, could function daily fisheries cooperatives, and
using stored fish, supply products entrepreneurs — widening the
without interruption, and circle to include those previously
manufacture value-added Tuna outside the formal economy. The
products in a hygienic manner. National Fisheries Development
The cold storage also expanded Program portal has crossed 2.7
million registrations, enabling
access to institutional credit,
aquaculture insurance, and
performance-linked incentives.
The Blue Economy’s
modernisation is, at its core, a
story about expanding who gets
to participate — and on what
terms. From Odisha’s reservoirs
to Karnataka’s farmlands and
the shores of Lakshadweep, men
and women are not waiting to be
invited into the future of Indian
fisheries. They are building it, one
cage, one cold storage unit, and
one calculated risk at a time.
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