Why 9 million fisherfolk are burdened by debt
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COMMENTS 
Six members of the fishing community in Udipi, Karnataka, committed suicide because they couldn't repay their debts. Two of them were women. What has gone wrong with this oldest of livelihood systems?
It was ironic. On July 25, a fisherman's son, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, assumed office as the new President of India. At the same time, thousands of fisherfolk from the coastal states of the country were assembled near Parliament House for an indefinite agitation.
The livelihood of fisherfolk all over the country is threatened by the entry of foreign companies that have been permitted by the Government of India to fish along Indian coastal areas since 1991. Globalisation has meant that the traditional fisherfolk are struggling for survival; an estimated 90 per cent are now burdened by debt.
Although the central cabinet approved the recommendations of the Murari Committee as far back as September 1997, they have not been implemented so far. The Committee, set up in the wake of an agitation by the National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), had made 21 recommendations, the most crucial being cancellation of all licences given to joint venture fishing vessels (which use advanced technology), and the provision of diesel and kerosene to fisherfolk at subsidised rates.
"If the government had shown sincerity in implementing the main recommendations, the situation may not have been so bad," says N D Koli, NFF General Secretary.
What exactly has gone wrong with this oldest of livelihood systems? What are the ills faced by the fishing community numbering 10 million? Why are the leaders of this community forced to sit in dharna (agitation) in New Delhi?
From the women and the men, the answers come pouring out. The biggest threat to the community comes from the impact of market forces and the use of joint venture fishing vessels to increase the catch of fish along the coastal areas. These vessels scalp the seabed, remove small and big marine life-stock indiscriminately, and thereby endanger the marine ecosystem. Besides, they go further out to sea than the small boats to bring in huge quantities of fish. As a direct consequence of this, the population of fish near the coastal areas has fallen.
While claims are regularly made about being alert to the dangers of disturbing the marine ecosystem, the policies of the government do not support the concerns of the fishing community. According to Chander Kant, a member of the NFF in Karnataka, six people committed suicide in Udipi district -- two of these were women. The reason: inability to repay debt. No figures are available on the number of suicides among the fishing community. In any case, says Chander Kant, suicides among fisherfolk don't attract as much media attention as do such acts by farmers.
At another level, the cost of bringing fish into the market has increased steadily but the price they fetch has not kept pace. At the same time, prices of kerosene and diesel have increased substantially.
Women are under heavier stress. When a family takes a loan to buy a boat, women work harder. The entire family gets ensnared into a spiral of debt and the dictates of the moneylender. Says Jhansi Rani, a fisherwoman from Tamil Nadu, "A family in debt is forced to sell fish at half the market price to the moneylender, apart from paying back the loan at a high interest." Women of the community are usually involved in making the nets, cleaning the boats, drying and selling the fish. But not fishing.
By a tacit community norm, women are barred from fishing out at sea. Kant and other leaders of the NFF present the usual arguments: If women are out fishing for six or seven days, like their men, who will look after children and older family members? The women are already working in the home and the market. It would be very difficult for them to keep the boats steady on the high seas. At night, how will women live with other men in the same boat? Our women don't know how to swim...
Such attitudes are not shared by all the women. Kanagambal, from Tamil Nadu's Ramnad district, exudes confidence, "If I get a chance and circumstances force me to go out fishing in the sea, I will definitely do it. I don't think a man is stronger than I am." In her area, about 300
women go out fishing during the day. Fisherwomen from Tamil Nadu have formed a women's wing within the fishworkers trade union.
"Most of the time our men are out of the home. So we decided to form our own wing to solve our problems," says Jhansi Rani, also from Ramnad. In this district, conductors and drivers either disallowed women fish vendors from carrying their baskets inside the buses, or demanded a bribe to let them in. When the women protested on the roads, the local administration acted quickly, and the situation improved. However, fisherwomen in Maharashtra face a similar problem on the trains.
At fish processing plants too, women workers are faced with exploitative situations. According to one of the women leaders in Delhi, the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) claims to earn foreign exchange worth millions; but it is at the expense of MPEDA's 100,000 women workers. "We are not paid an adequate salary, the contractors often exploit
us; and we are brought to the processing plants packed like sardines in a railway compartment. Besides, we don't have a proper place to live in." An improvement in their working conditions is one of the demands in the NFF charter of demands in 2002. However, the demand of the MPEDA women workers is placed 27th in the list of 42 submitted by the NFF.
Male NFF leaders do not think they are placing less emphasis on the problems faced by women in the fishing community. Their argument: the survival of the community as a whole is of primary importance.
Meanwhile, the NFF has once again received an assurance: the Prime Minister has told them that the licenses of the joint venture fishing vessels will be cancelled, and kerosene and diesel will be given to fisherfolk at subsidised rates.
The NFF representatives are going back to their states. But they have heard such assurances from the government before and are not certain whether action will follow. And what of the women's demands? Can the survival and health of the fisherfolk community be separated from the needs of its women?
Women's Feature Service