The Tamil Nadu authorities, which is eager on resolving the long-standing battle within the Palk Bay, has been requested by the Exterior Affairs Ministry to submit a listing of possible contributors from the fishing neighborhood within the State and tentative dates for the proposed talks between its fisherfolk and that of the Northern Province in Sri Lanka.
Reply quickly
“We can be shortly sending our reply,” mentioned sources within the authorities. Additionally, in response to a different request of the State authorities for a gathering of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group (JWG) on Fisheries, the Ministry, a few week in the past, knowledgeable the previous that it had lately addressed the matter with the neighbouring nation.
The proposed talks maintain significance in opposition to the backdrop of the arrest of 55 Tamil Nadu fishermen and seizure of eight trawlers by the Sri Lankan Navy on Sunday. Fishermen in Rameswaram staged a protest on Monday demanding the discharge of the arrested members.
Whereas the final spherical of the fishermen-level talks occurred in New Delhi in November 2016, the JWG met in December 2020 by means of digital mode. Between 2010 and 2016, a number of rounds of conferences between the representatives of the fisherfolk from the 2 nations had been held.
The Joint Working Group held 4 conferences since December 2016. In September 2020, through the digital bilateral summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to “proceed engagement to handle the problems associated to fishermen by means of common session and bilateral channels.”
For the 5 to 6 months, the State authorities had been following up with the Centre each in respect of the fishermen-level talks and the JWG assembly, the sources level out. The influence of the pandemic was mentioned to have are available the way in which of the group to carry a standard assembly.
As for accelerating the tempo of implementation of the deep-sea fishing scheme, which was launched in July 2017 with a view to resolving the Palk Bay dispute and bettering the livelihood alternatives for the fisherfolk, the State authorities has urged the Centre to hike the unit price of vessels from ₹80 lakh to ₹1.2 crore, the determine talked about within the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.
Until now, building of 42 boats have been accomplished beneath the scheme. Work on 43 extra is in progress. In complete, work orders have been issued to 105 beneficiaries. A sum of about ₹31 crore was launched to the beneficiaries. Being financed by the Union and the State governments with beneficiary participation, the scheme had initially envisaged the availability of two,000 vessels in three years to the fishermen of the State and inspire them to desert backside trawling.
Stating that the price issue is a major problem for the fishermen, an professional within the area of fisheries means that an company of the State authorities be entrusted with the duty of buying deep sea vessels which might, in flip, be given on lease to fishermen, who’re utilizing backside trawlers. The fishermen will be suggested to type organisations on the traces of cooperative societies or farmer producer teams.
