Rahul Gandhi has once again called for a fisheries ministry that would serve the interests of the fishermen in India. Gandhi made this statement while speaking to fishermen in poll-bound Kerala at Kollam.
"Just like our farmers farm the land, you farm the sea. The farmers have their ministry in Delhi. You don't have a ministry in Delhi. No one speaks for you in Delhi. So the first thing I would like to do is have a ministry dedicated to the fishermen of our country, so your issues can be protected and defended across the country."
While there is no standalone ministry pertaining to fisheries, a Department of Fisheries under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying does exist. Hence Rahul Gandhi's claim that there is no section of the government machinery dedicated to fishing is not true.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party had made a promise to setup a standalone ministry for fisheries in their manifesto. But Gandhi, on this instance, claimed that fishermen do not have a ministry in the central government at all.
This has once again led to Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Giriraj Singh, to hit back at him on social media.
However, this is not the first time that Gandhi has made these remarks. Last week on February 17, in Puducherry, he made similar remarks.
"...I consider you to be farmers of the sea. I think to myself that if farmers of the land can have a ministry in Delhi, then why is it that farmers of sea, do not have a ministry in Delhi? Do you agree with what I'm saying? When we have an issue of farmers, we go to the Ministry that belongs to the farmers."
This too had drawn a strong rebuttal from Giriraj Singh.
FactCheck
The government arm looking at fisheries is the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. Under it, a Department of Fisheries deals exclusively with fishing. It is one of the two departments under the ministry, the other being the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
In the budget this year, the Department of Fisheries has received a budgetary allocation of ₹1,220 crores, and the ministry ₹4,322 crores covering capital and revenue.
The details about the department can be found here. Although, a standalone ministry pertaining solely to fisheries does not exist.
The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, existed as a department within the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare, prior to February 2019. Since then, it was hived off into a separate ministry and split into these two departments. This can be read here.
In March 2019, while in Kerala, Rahul Gandhi had brought up the issue of creating a separate ministry for fisherfolk. This was also given as an explicit promise within the Congress' manifesto in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, where they promised an exclusive 'Ministry of Fisheries and Fisherfolk Welfare'.