Cabinet Approvals on 8th February 2024

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi approved the following schemes and initiatives on 8th February 2024

i.Approved Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (PM-MKSSY).

ii.Approved Extension of Fisheries Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) for 3 years.

iii.Telecom spectrum auctions at a base price of Rs 96,317.65 crore.

iv.CCEA Approves 6 Multi-Tracking Projects Across Indian Railways

Cabinet Approved PM-MKSSY for Fisheries Sector Micro & Small Enterprises 

The Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi approved the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (PM-MKSSY) a Central Sector sub-scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).

• The scheme aims to formalise the fisheries sector and support the fisheries micro and small enterprises over the next 4 years (FY 2023-24 to FY 2026-27) in all States/Union Territories (UTs)

Expenditure: 

i.The estimated outlay of the scheme is Rs 6000 crores. This consists of 50%(RS 3000 crore) public finance including the World Bank and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) external financing.

ii.The remaining 50% is the expected investment from the beneficiaries / private sector leverage. The targeted beneficiaries include,

• people directly engaged in the fisheries value chain(Fishers, Fish (Aquaculture) Farmers, Fish workers, Fish Vendors).
• Micro and small enterprises(Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), Self Help Groups (SHGs), cooperatives, Fish Farmers Producer Organizations (FFPOs), and startups), registered in India.
• Department of Fisheries under Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

Benefits: 

i.Formalise the fisheries sector and enhance access to institutional credit. This will benefit around 6.4 lakh micro-enterprises and 5,500 fisheries cooperatives.

ii.Create a National Fisheries Digital Platform and provide work-based identities to 40 lakh small and micro-enterprises.

iii.Promote environment and sustainability initiatives, and address aquaculture crop losses through insurance coverage.

iv.This will create 1.7 lakh new jobs, with a special focus on employing 75,000 women.

v.This will also generate 5.4 lakh continued employment opportunities in the micro and small enterprises value chain.

Major components:

Component 1-A: Formalization of the fisheries sector and facilitating access of fisheries micro-enterprises to Government of India programs for working capital financing:

i.NFDP will be created and stakeholders will be mobilized to register on it. This will offer financial incentives, training, and support for project preparation, documentation, and strengthening of existing fisheries cooperative societies.

Component 1-B: Facilitating the adoption of aquaculture insurance:

i.The proposal is to provide insurance coverage for at least 1 lakh hectares of aquaculture farms and to incentivise farmers with a one-time incentive of 40% of the cost of the premium, subject to a limit of Rs 25000 per hectare of water spread area of the aqua farm.

ii.The maximum incentive payable to a single farmer will be Rs 1 lakh and the maximum farm size eligible for the incentive is 4 hectares

iii.Additional incentives of @10% will be provided to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Women beneficiaries.

Component 2: Supporting microenterprises to improve fisheries sector value chain efficiencies:

Aims to improve efficiency by supporting 55,000 targeted micro and small enterprises in the fishery sector by incentivizing microenterprises to engage in production and job creation. This will be done through performance grants with measurable parameters.

Component 3: Adoption and expansion of fish and fishery product safety and quality assurance systems:

The proposal is to encourage safety and quality assurance systems for marketing fish and fishery products by offering performance grants based on measurable parameters.

Performance Grants: 

For Village-level organizations and Federations of Self-Help Groups (SHGs), FFPOs, and Cooperatives – not more than 35% of total investment or Rs 200 lakhs (whichever is lower)

Component 4: Project management, monitoring, and reporting:

Under this component, it is proposed to set up Project Management Units (PMUs) to manage, implement, monitor, and evaluate project activities.

Additional Information:

i.Fish production increased by 79.66 lakh tonnes from 2013-14 to 2023-24, with robust growth of coastal aquaculture and shrimp production.

ii.Employment and livelihood opportunities have been provided to about 63 lakh fishers and fish farmers.

iii.The coverage per fisherman under the Group Accident Insurance Scheme (GAIS) has been increased from Rs 1 Lakh to Rs 5 Lakh.

Cabinet approved Extension of FIDF up to 2025-26

The Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi has approved the extension of the Fisheries Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) for 3 years up to 2025-26 within the approved fund of Rs 7522.48 crore and budgetary support of Rs 939.48 crore.

Background: 

i.FIDF was created during  2018-19 with a total funds size of Rs 7522.48 crore to address the infrastructure requirement for the fisheries sector.

ii.121 fisheries infrastructure projects with an investment cost of Rs. 5588.63 crore have been approved between 2018-19 and 2022-23.

iii.27 completed projects under FIDF created safe landing and berthing facilities for more than 8100 fishing vessels and created 2.5 lakh direct and indirect employment.

Key Points

i.FIDF offers concessional finance to Eligible Entities, including State Governments and Union Territories(UTs) for the development of fisheries infrastructure facilities.

ii.The Nodal Loaning Entities (NLEs): NABARD(National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development), NCDC (National Cooperative Development Corporation), and All scheduled Banks.

iii.The Government of India provides interest subvention up to 3% per annum for a repayment period of 12 years, inclusive of a 2-year moratorium, at an interest rate not lower than 5% per annum.

iv.FIDF is open to State Governments, State Corporations, Fisheries Cooperative Federations, Panchayat Raj Institutions, Self Help Groups(SHGs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Women, and private entrepreneurs.

Cabinet Approves Telecom Spectrum Auctions at a Base Price of Rs 96,317.65 Crore

The Cabinet has approved the auction in eight spectrum bands for mobile phone services at a base price of Rs 96,317 crore to improve the quality of telecom services and coverage for consumers.

Key Points

i.All available spectrum in various bands i.e.  800 megahertz (MHz), 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300, 2500, 3300 megahertz (MHz) and 26 gigahertz (GHz) will be put to auction.

• A total of 10,523.15 MHz will be offered with a valuation of Rs. 96,317.65 crore.

ii.A committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary (current cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba) will be formed to finalise plans for re-farming of certain spectrum bands.

iii.In September 2021, the government decided that the spectrum auctions should be held annually.

Note: In the last round of auctions, the government sold 71% (51,236 MHz) of the 72,098 MHz of 5G spectrum put up for sale amounting to Rs 1,50,173 crore.

Additional info: 

The Cabinet also approved the proposal for spectrum requirements of rail-based urban/regional transit systems like NCRTC(National Capital Region Transport Corporation) in the 700 MHz band for Automatic Train Protection (ATP) systems and operations.

CCEA Approves 6 Multi-Tracking Projects Across Indian Railways

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by PM Modi has approved six railway projects worth Rs. 12,343 crores with 100% funding from the Central Government.

• The projects are the result of PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multi-model connectivity to facilitate ease of travelling, minimise logistics costs, reduce oil imports and lower Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions

Key Points

i.The projects will cover 18 districts in six states and will increase the existing railway network by 1020 km.

ii.The capacity augmentation works will result in an additional freight traffic of 87 MTPA(Million Tonnes Per Annum)

iii.The section for doubling stretch are,

About Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying: 
Union Minister– Parshottam Rupala(Rajya Sabha- Gujarat)
Minister of State (MoS)– Sanjeev Kumar Balyan(Constituency- Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh); L. Murugan(Rajya Sabha – Madhya Pradesh)