Parliament Question: Welfare of shrimp farmer

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 550 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4TH FEBRUARY, 2026 Welfare of shrimp farmer 550. Shri Masthan Rao Yadav Beedha: Will the Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has implemented any specific measures or schemes to enhance income security and livelihood sustainability of shrimp farmers, particularly small and marginal aquaculture farmers; (b) if so, the details thereof, including year-wise and State-wise financial assistance provided during the last three years; (c) whether Government has assessed the impact of high input costs, disease outbreaks (including white spot disease and other viral infections), and market price volatility on shrimp farmers and the key findings thereof; and (d) whether any insurance coverage, credit-linked subsidy or other risk mitigation mechanisms have been extended to shrimp farmers, if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING (SHRI RAJIV RANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH) (a) and (b) : The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries Animal Husbandry and Dairying has taken up several initiatives for holistic development of fisheries and aquaculture in the country including implementation of various schemes such as (i) Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries implemented for a period of 5 years from FY 2015-16 to FY 2019-20, (ii) Fisheries & Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) implemented with effect from year 2018-19, (iii) Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and (iv) Sub-scheme of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah Yojana (PMMKSSY). Additionally, the Government of India with effect from the financial year 2018-19 has extended the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) facility to fishers and fish famers to help them to meet their working capital requirements. The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying during the last 3 years financial years (2022-23 to 2024-25) has accorded approvals to the fisheries and aquaculture development proposals of various State Governments and Union Territories(UTs) at a total cost of Rs.13,924.23 crore with central share of Rs. 6415.84 crore under the Pradhan Mantri,Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY). The central funds of Rs. 3622.54 crore has been released during the last three years (2022-23 to 2024-25) to the State Governments and UTs for implementation of various approved fisheries and aquaculture development projects under PMMSY. State/UT-wise details proposals approved and central funds released during the last three financial years (2022-23 to 2024-25) under PMMSY are furnished at Annexure-I.(c) and (d) : The Department of Fisheries, Government of India under the Pradhan Mantri, Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) provides social security to fishers through group accidental insurance coverage to both marine and inland fishers and allied fish workers wherein the entire insurance premium amount is shared between the Centre & State in the ratio of 60:40 basis for General States, 90:10 for the Himalayan & North Eastern States and in the case of the Union Territories, the entire premium amount is paid by the Centre. The insurance coverage provided under the PMMSY includes (i) Rs.5,00,000/- against death or permanent total disability, (ii) Rs.2,50,000/- for permanent partial disability and (iii) hospitalization expenses in the event of accident for a sum of Rs. 25,000/. During the last three years (2022-23 to 2024-25) of the implementation of the PMMSY, Central Government has released a sum of Rs.54.03 crore for insurance coverage of 103.73 lakh fishers with an average of 34.57 lakh fishers annually. Further, while no such specific assessment studies to assess the impact of input cost, disease outbreaks etc is carried out, the Department of Fisheries, Government of India under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (PM-MKSSY) provides for one time incentive for purchase of aquaculture insurance by farmers. The insurance products available under this scheme includes: (i) Basic Insurance which covers yield losses due to non-preventable perils(risks), such as summer kill, pollution, earthquakes, cyclones, floods, other natural calamities, riots, malicious acts of third parties including poisoning, loss of crop due to structural damage of farms and (ii) Comprehensive Insurance which covers perils under Basic Insurance and additional perils due to diseases etc. The one time incentive for aquaculture insurance is provided at the rate of 40% of the premium paid with a ceiling up to ₹25,000 per hectare, or ₹1lakh per farmer for 4 hectares Water Spread Area (WSA). For the aquaculture system including intensive systems like farms, cage culture, RAS, bio-floc, and raceways etc., aquaculture insurance is provided at the rate of 40% of the premium paid with a ceiling up to ₹1 lakh per farmer for 1800 m3 for intensive aquaculture systems. Further, the SC/ST and women beneficiaries get an additional 10% of incentive. *****Annexure-I Statement referred to reply of part-(a) & (b) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 550 put in by Shri Masthan Rao Yadav Beedha Hon’ble Member of Parliament for answer on 4thFebruary, 2026: State/UT-wise details proposals approved and central funds released during the last three financial years (2022-23 to 2024-25) under PMMSY (Rs. in lakhs) Sl. No. State/UT 2022-23to 2024-25 Central share approved Funds released 1 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1684.25 500.00 2 Andhra Pradesh 43719.40 20604.68 3 Arunachal Pradesh 10739.24 10069.97 4 Assam 20184.95 11043.02 5 Bihar 8817.06 2641.74 6 Chhattisgarh 24332.65 17123.00 7 Delhi 1179.49 0.00 8 Goa 19141.86 2527.15 9 Gujarat 21342.86 3742.14 10 Haryana 4607.26 9562.64 11 Himachal Pradesh 5052.19 3232.64 12 Jammu and Kashmir 7542.91 5479.56 13 Jharkhand 24641.53 3341.44 14 Karnataka 41787.63 13382.42 15 Kerala 1604.76 25804.29 16 Ladakh 1407.90 1014.02 17 Lakshadweep 19478.80 0.00 18 Madhya Pradesh 37134.75 14316.19 19 Maharashtra 8129.62 22751.66 20 Manipur 5570.31 1000.00 21 Meghalaya 4523.74 3039.84 22 Mizoram 7760.83 4393.58 23 Nagaland 29495.46 5185.25 24 Odisha 25918.89 18381.21 25 Puducherry 2475.70 4231.00 26 Punjab 1447.50 2128.08 27 Rajasthan 3176.10 148.81 28 Sikkim 28896.96 2763.42 29 Tamil Nadu 6814.98 10419.87 30 Telangana 12886.00 1336.47 31 Tripura 11344.95 4137.43 32 Uttar Pradesh 22170.55 14232.77 33 Uttarakhand 10756.36 12444.50 34 West Bengal 22548.45 5507.70 *****