Union MoS George Kurian Launches Marine Fisheries Census 2025 & Digital Apps ‘VyAS–BHARAT’ & ‘VyAS–SUTRA’

In October 2025, Union Minister of State (MoS) George Kurian, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying(MoFAH&D) launched the 5th Marine Fisheries Census (MFC 2025) Household Enumeration along with two digital mobile applications(apps) ‘Village-Jetty Appraisal Navigator(VyAS)–BHARAT’ and ‘VyAS–SUTRA’  at the Indian Council for Agricultural Research(ICAR)-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in Kochi, Kerala.

Background:

MFC: It is a five-year national survey that records data on fisher households, fishing assets, and marine infrastructure under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).

• The MFC has been conducted since 2005, with the previous edition held in 2016.

Implementation Framework: A coast-wide initiative fully funded by the Department of Fisheries, MoFAH&D, with ICAR–CMFRI as the nodal agency and the Fishery Survey of India (FSI) as the operational partner.

About MFC 2025 Household Enumeration :

MFC 2025: It marks a shift from paper-based surveys to a fully digital, paperless, and geo-referenced census, using mobile/tablet apps and geo-tagging for data collection.

Theme: MFC 2025, themed “Smart Census, Smarter Fisheries,” seeks to improve the targeting of PM-MKSSY (Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana) allocations and drive the development of fisheries infrastructure.

Duration: The core household data collection will be carried out over 45 days, from November 3 to December 18, 2025, across India’s coastal states and union territories.

Coverage: The MFC 2025 will encompass about 1.2 million fisher households across 5,000 marine fishing villages and habitations in 13 coastal States and Union Territories(UTs), including the Andaman & Nicobar(A&N) Islands and Lakshadweep.

Applications: It is powered by a suite of multilingual Android apps developed by ICAR–CMFRI, including:

• VyAS–NAV: For validation of fishing villages and harbors.
• VyAS–BHARAT: For household and infrastructure enumeration.
• VyAS–SUTRA: For real-time supervision and monitoring of households and enumerators.

Key Features of MFC 2025:

Real-Time Digital Monitoring: The digital system enables real-time, geo-referenced data collection with reduced errors and faster processing, supported by web dashboards and a supervisory app for accurate, accountable tracking.

Expanded Socio-economic Data: The census, for the first time, records key details on family income, homeownership, liabilities, and credit sources.

• The census also collects key data on insurance, losses or disabilities, COVID-19 impacts, and benefits received under PMMSY and PM-MKSSY.

Institutional Mapping: New schedules on Fish Farmer Producer Organizations (FFPOs) and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have been added to promote collectivization and enhance the fisheries value chain.

Aerial Enumeration: For the first time, drone technology is being deployed to enhance accuracy and transparency as they will conduct aerial enumeration of fishing crafts during trawl ban periods at major harbors and landing centers, including:

• East Coast: Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh, AP), Kakinada (AP), and Thoothukudi (Tamil Nadu, TN) (April–June).
• West Coast: Mangaluru (Karnataka), Beypore, and Puthiyappa (Kerala) (June–July).

About Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying (MoFAH&D):
Union Minister – Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh (Constituency – Munger, Bihar)
Minister of State (MoS) – S P Singh Baghel (Constituency – Agra, Uttar Pradesh, UP); George Kurian (Rajya Sabha- Madhya Pradesh, MP)