Mumbai, India (CU)_ Under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana scheme, the fisherman or machhua community would receive free accident insurance. The state has already begun registration for the program. It is a free insurance program which charges zero premium from the recipients between the ages of 18 and 70. The policy will pay INR 5 lakh for accidental death or permanent total disability, INR 2.5 lakh for permanent partial disability, and INR 25,000 for medical care in the event of an accident-related hospitalization.
The UP Fisheries department has published details about the program on its official website. The program would supplement the welfare initiatives already undertaken by the UP government for ‘machhua’ (Nishads) throughout the state. The government has also launched two new programmes in the budget for 2022-2023, Mukhyamantri Matsya Sampada Yojana and Nishadraj Boat Yojana, both of which would be completely supported by the budget.
The plans will assist the seventeen sub-castes of the ‘machhua’ or fishermen population in the state who have been severely impacted by the loss of their traditional sources of income and means of subsistence. Those who have been granted leases for ponds in gram sabhas would be eligible for subsidies to purchase boats, fishing nets, and fish seed banks, as outlined in the BJP’s electoral plan for the 2022 assembly elections. Uttar Pradesh has more than two crore fishermen. For a precise evaluation, the fisheries department is performing a survey. Those belonging to the BPL classification will be identified and selected first for the uplift.
Open-sea fishing is one of the most dangerous vocations. Every year, a large number of fishermen perish their lives in the middle of the ocean, leaving their families without a breadwinner and caught in a cycle of severe poverty. Hence, the government established the Fishermen Group Accident Insurance Scheme in order to safeguard the fishermen’s families.
