The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Fisherfolk worried about future

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 06, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Fisherfolk worried about future

By V.Jayanth

CHENNAI, JAN. 5 . As the Central teams visiting the tsunami-ravaged districts wind up their tour and start working on a relief package, a sense of trauma, frustration and even despair seems to be creeping in among the fisherfolk. Uppermost in their minds is the question how and when they will start earning their living. It is quite possible, and in some areas already under implementation, that the local fisherfolk are being "employed" for relief and rehabilitation work by the various government agencies. How long can this last? They are looking for a future.

Senior Government officers who prepared the massive aid plan the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, submitted to the Central team, say more adult members of the fishermen families can be provided employment at least for three months.

They will also be covered under a special package to provide basic rations. "It is only a question of time before at least one section of the fishermen goes out to sea. It depends on whether their boats or vessels are repaired and made seaworthy," an official in Nagapattinam said over telephone. It can take some time to finalise and sanction a package, perhaps with subsidy, to build new ones, for those whose boats have been damaged beyond repair.

According to officials, temporary shelters have begun appearing in many coastal villages. The next stage is "employing" the men and women in the reconstruction programme, in which they will start earning daily wages. That should keep them going. The free supplies by the Government and the NGOs should also enable them to cook a meal or two in their shelters right away.

Central assistance

Ms. Jayalalithaa has sought Rs. 4,800 crores to rebuild houses, restore community assets and help the fisherfolk earn their livelihood. Tamil Nadu hopes that the Centre and other international and national relief agencies will offer substantial aid packages to implement the ambitious scheme.

Women worried

The feedback from the relief teams is that the women are already a worried lot. They are concerned at the relief or compensation money falling into the hands of the men. "The women are afraid that the interim cash relief may be spirited away for liquor and we are trying to address this concern. Most of the money has been distributed already," says a Revenue official who arranged for the cash payments. The smarter women were at hand to take charge of the money, but they complain that "it cost them a tidy sum" to ensure that the cash was paid to them.

Women have traditionally supplemented the family income, often maintaining the children from their own earnings. They have not only sold fish but have also taken up other activities to make a living. The NGOs are afraid that in their anxiety to earn a "decent sum" to restart life all over again, the women may stop sending their children to school.

That is why the NGOs supporting the fisherfolk and mobilising women in the coastal hamlets want the Central and State Governments to focus on rebuilding the coastal economy so that it can be self-supporting — without adding to the misery and penury of the tsunami-affected families.

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