The newspapers recently carried the news that fish exports from Goa mostly shrimp grew at 38% last year compared to the previous year. Over the whole of last year one does not recall any time of the prices for fish falling even for shrimp considering the bigger catch from which exports has risen sharply since doesn’t all the fish come from the same sea. In any country that considers itself developed the first priority of giving the best of its marine catch and also produce to the most of the quantity is to its local people and then the surplus only is given for export.
In India we seem to do the reverse. Like for fishing in Goa the government subsidises with public money the diesel fuel used in trawlers and has assistance schemes of various kinds for fishing equipment and accessories like nets etc. and utilising these subsidies when the fish is caught for free from the sea, it is sold at exorbitant prices to the public. Isn’t there an anomaly there somewhere? Is it not unfair to the Goan public that your money is given away without accountability to a privileged few to become richer and richer?
There has been many a time over the last few years that the government has made conciliatory noises that fish would be sold at reasonable prices to the people. Mobile fish vans were introduced but true to the government norm, they have disappeared after having been functional for just a few months. Even Manohar Parrikar some 4 years ago had promised just before elections that fish would be given at economical rates to the Goan people.
You ask him now what happened to his promise and has it gone the same way of all election promises straight to the waste paper basket upon winning, he will probably tell you that he has right now bigger fish to fry and that fish for the public is the last of his priorities! Will the government at least do something now on this on a priority basis and guarantee fish availability at reasonable prices on a sustained and continuous manner to the Goan people.
