New Delhi. Beyond the plate, fish in India have long embodied stories, symbols, and the silent memory of a civilisation. From Harappan pottery evoking water deities to Vishnu’s fish avatar in the Matsya Purana, from Kalidasa’s royal imagery to matrimonial rituals in Bengal, fish have shaped our culture and identity. In art forms like Madhubani paintings and films such as Chemmeen, the 1965 Malayalam classic, they evoke abundance, longing, and the fragile rhythms of life by water.
The writer Mallika Pandey, who was associated with the Central Fisheries Department for a long time, said that peripheral to public policy. That The Pioneer others like Uttarakhand and SINCE 1865 Yet for decades, fisheries remained began to change after 2014 as India positioned freshwater aquaculture not merely as a source of nutrition but as a strategic driver of rural livelihoods and econom-ic renewal. A turning point arrived with the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana in 2020, backed by a 720,050 crore outlay. Moving beyond input-centric support, the scheme sought to modernise the entire fisheries value chain from hatcheries and feed units to cold storage, transport infrastructure, and market linkages, laying the groundwork for a more resilient and integrated sector. Most of this growth has come in the past decade with total fish production nearly doubling, and inland fish-eries now contributing over 75 per cent.
A landmark reform in February 2024 extend ed crop insurance to fish farming under the PM Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah Yojana, classifying fish stock as insurable. This mitigated risks for marginal farmers and catalysed private invest ment, accelerating inland aquaculture’s rise. With an 8.58 per cent average annual growth rate, the sector now outpaces all other agri-allied domains. Institutional support has followed with disease surveillance programmes and rity protocols strengthening trust among farmers. Yet potential remains unlocked. A majority of inland fish farming continues to rely on traditional practices, with limited adoption of scientific feed formulations or species diver-sification. Post-harvest infrastructure is weak, Value addition through fish processing remains negligible. Despite India’s seafood exports reaching 60,524 crore in 2023 to 2024 across 132 countries, inland aquaculture contributes little to this success, which is still dominated by marine production. Without a strong retail and export supply chain tailored to inland fish, the sector remains an untapped frontier of India’s blue economy. Disparities persist.
While states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have surged ahead, Arunachal Pradesh lag due to underinvestment, poor infrastruc-ture, and limited extension services. Climate vari-ability further constrains progress. Nearly three crore livelihoods depend on the sector, with women comprising 30 per cent of the workforce. Despite their roles in hatcheries, processing, and marketing, access to training, credit, and own-ership remains limited. This is the moment for consolidation, not reinvention. India must create Inland Fisheries Infrastructure Corridors in key aquaculture districts with mobile cold storage and mini-processing hubs. States should launch Aquaculture Acceleration Missions bundling credit, insurance, and technical support to scale innovations like RAS and cage culture. A Digital Blue India platform powered by lot and blockchain can revolutionise pond monitoring and traceability. Disease surveillance must go real time linking state labs to a nation-al dashboard. With two decades to capture our demographic dividend, inland fisheries must be central to India’s growth strategy. Their integra-tion into the national economic narrative rep-resents more than reform. It signals transforma-biosecution. India’s blue economy must not remain con-fined to its oceans. It must rise from ponds, tanks, and reservoirs flowing through the rural heart-lands that have long remained on the margins. Inland fisheries, once overlooked, now stand at the forefront of food security, livelihood creation, and export growth. They are no longer silent. Awakened and surging forward, they carry with them the quiet momentum of rural economic resurgence.Inland fisheries: India’s silent revolution in the blue economyWhile states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have surged ahead, Arunachal Pradesh lag due to underinvestment, poor infrastruc-ture, and limited extension services. Climate vari-ability further constrains progress. Nearly three crore livelihoods depend on the sector, with women comprising 30 per cent of the workforce. Despite their roles in hatcheries, processing, and marketing, access to training, credit, and own-ership remains limited. This is the moment for consolidation, not reinvention. India must create Inland Fisheries Infrastructure Corridors in key aquaculture districts with mobile cold storage and mini-processing hubs. States should launch Aquaculture Acceleration Missions bundling credit, insurance, and technical support to scale innovations like RAS and cage culture. A Digital Blue India platform powered by lot and blockchain can revolutionise pond monitoring and traceability. Disease surveillance must go real time linking state labs to a nation-al dashboard. With two decades to capture our demographic dividend, inland fisheries must be central to India’s growth strategy. Their integra-tion into the national economic narrative rep-resents more than reform. It signals transforma-biosecution. India’s blue economy must not remain con-fined to its oceans. It must rise from ponds, tanks, and reservoirs flowing through the rural heart-lands that have long remained on the margins. Inland fisheries, once overlooked, now stand at the forefront of food security, livelihood creation, and export growth. They are no longer silent. Awakened and surging forward, they carry with them the quiet momentum of rural economic resurgence.