India’s budget reveals a tension between supporting small-scale fishers and enabling large corporate fishing operations. While initiatives like PMMSY promote fisheries, they mainly favor bigger players and often overlook the challenges faced by traditional fish workers.
The budget allows expanded corporate fishing beyond 12 nautical miles and enables foreign port landings. This expansion can threaten the livelihoods of small-scale fishers, who worry about exploitative practices from large companies. As ocean temperatures rise and fish stocks move closer to shore, the risk for local communities increases. Currently, India has over three times more fishing vessels than the environment can sustain, and adding larger ones will only worsen this issue.
What’s truly needed is investment in coastal resilience, safety measures at sea, and systems to warn fishers about climate threats. Fish workers feel the policy prioritizes products over people and ecosystems, pushing the burden onto the most vulnerable among them.
In today’s climate era, priorities must shift from “growth first” to sustainable development. The budget mentions renewable energy and carbon capture, but it still leans heavily on extraction models that can harm fragile ecosystems. The announcement of “Rare Earth Corridors,” while strategically important, poses ecological risks, especially in sensitive coastal and forest areas.
A balanced approach is crucial. The budget lacks focus on cumulative environmental impacts, water pollution, community consent, and fair benefit-sharing. This reflects an outdated mindset: prioritize growth, then address problems later. In the context of climate change, such thinking is no longer viable. Ecosystems are essential for economic security; they should be treated as critical infrastructure rather than expendable resources.
Recent surveys indicate that 75% of coastal communities are concerned about corporate fishing practices and their impacts. This highlights the need for policy changes that genuinely support local fishers rather than corporate interests.
In conclusion, India’s approach to fisheries and ecosystem management needs a significant rethink. The focus should be on protecting vulnerable communities and fostering ecological balance while ensuring sustainable development. For more insights on climate impacts on fisheries, check out this report from the United Nations.
Source link
union budget,union budget 2026,union budget on environment,union budget 2026 environment,budget spending on environment
