National Fish Workers Forum Passes Resolution Against New Commercial Ports And Demands Scheduled Tribe Status For Fisher People

fishermen

The Annual Executive Committee meeting of National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) was held on August 11th and 12th at the Govt. Guest House, Pondicherry.

The following are the decisions made and resolutions taken in the meeting:

 

  1. It was decided to hold the annual general body meet of NFF for the year at Tuticorin on 9th and 10th of December2016 and observing the International Human Rights Day, it   was decided to raise the slogan “Fishing Rights are Human Rights” and hold a mass rally on the 10th December at Tuticorin.

 

  1. As theWorld forum of Fisher Peoples’ (WFFP)  Completes its 20th year in 2017, the by decadal celebration and the 7th convention (that is held every third year) is decided by WFFP to be  held at New Delhi where it was started 20 years ago, the NFF welcomes the decision and decided to take responsiblity to take care of the logistics.

 

  1. The plan of establisihing a commercial port in Inayam of Kanyakumari as decided by the Union government willdestroy the life and livelihood of the fisher communities of the region and also will damage the coastal and marine ecology and environment of the region, it was decided that a public hearing shall be held with the support of experts of the subject and NFF shall coordinate thePublic hearing.

 

  1. It was decided that in protests and rallies organised byNarmada Bachao Andolan in Gujarat and Madya Pradesh under the leadership of Medha Patkar, the leaders of National Fishworkers’ Forum shall participate and show solidarity.

 

  1. Protestingagainst the anti people development schemes promoted by the Union government through aquistion of agricultural land, coast, sea, forest and hills to establish coastal roads, commercial ports, thermal power stations, atomic power stations, hazardous industries, coastal resorts, industrial corridors that link the metro cities in the western and eastern coasts, joining hands with organizations like, NAPM, AIFWU, NTUI,  the NFF decided to hold a three day action at New Delhi in support of the demands of the above organisations.

 

  1. The fishermen of Gujarat, Diu and Daman who go for fishing for livelihood often unknowingly drift into Pakistan waters and are arrested and incarcerated in various Pakistan prisions. Even though there is ample opportunity to establish theirnationality verification through the latest technologies, the government of India is so careless and let them languish in the prisons of Pakistan for long periods. It was decided that a Conference shall be held in Gujarat in October to assess the status of the fishermen and the situation prevailing.

 

subcription2016

 

The above are the decision made and the following resolutions were passed:

 

1.The Indian fishermen should be recognised and listed as Scheduled Tribes.

 

  1. A separateMinistry shall be created in the Union government for the fisheries and fisher people welfare.

 

  1. Fishing occupation should be recognised on par with the agriculture by the unionGovernment.

 

  1. A Coastal Regulation Act should be passed replaceing Coastal Regulation Zone Notifiation.

 

  1. As in the fashion of the Tribal RightsAct over the forests and  hills, an act shall be intoruduced to protect and recognise the rights of the fisher communities over the coastal and inland water bodies and ensure the livelihood rights of the traditional fisher people over the marine resoruces and that of the inland water bodies.

 

  1. In the case of implementation ofsubsidy cum loans for fishermen housing,  subsidy for fuel like Diesel, Kerosene and for savings cum relief scheme, the Central and State government shall not consider the below poverty line criteria. and shall make them available for all the traditional fisher people.

 

  1. The right for having fish market for the traitional fisher women  shall be legalised.

 

  1. The plan to have new commercial ports that destroy the livelihdood of fisher communities shall be given up both by the Central and the State governments

 

  1. No new thermal or atomic power plants shall be contemplated in the coastal regions of India.

 

  1. No industrial corridor shall be introduced between the coastal cities of India.

 

  1. The destructive gears such as purse siene and allbottom trawling netsincluding  Twin trawling, Bull  trawling, Pair trawling shall be banned by both the Union and State governments and the criminal action against those who violate shall be harsh and immediate.

 

  1. Asthe industrial pollutions, city garbage including plastic waste are permitted to be let into the inland water bodies and the sea by the Central government, state governments and the local bodies, the fish resource is very much affected and the production of fish food supplement is reduced. We demand that the such disposing shall be immediately stope

 

It is decided that state level actions such as rallies, conferences and demonstrations shall be held by the members of NFF in their respective states pressing upon the above mentioned demands., in every coastal state within the period of December 2016 to February 2017. it was decided that in such state level actions.

Ilango, Chairperson, National Fishworkers’  Forum.

T.Peter, National Secretary, National Fishworkers Forum

 

 

Support Countercurrents

Countercurrents is answerable only to our readers. Support honest journalism because we have no PLANET B.
Become a Patron at Patreon

Join Our Newsletter

GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX

Join our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Get CounterCurrents updates on our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Related Posts

Join Our Newsletter


Annual Subscription

Join Countercurrents Annual Fund Raising Campaign and help us

Latest News