Gov approves Sub scheme for PM Matsya Kisan Samridhi -Yojana

The Union Cabinet has approved Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana, a Central Sector sub-scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada for the fisheries sector. Addressing the press briefing after a cabinet meeting in New Delhi yesterday, Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said a total of 6000 crore rupees have been earmarked for the scheme over the next 4 years. 

He said that 3,000 crore rupees will come from public finance including the World Bank and the AFD external financing, and the remaining 50 percent will be contributed by the beneficiaries from the private sector. The Minister said the scheme will help to gradually formalize the fisheries sector and enhance access to institutional credit. Mr Thakur said this initiative will support 6.4 lakh micro-enterprises and 5,500 fisheries cooperatives, providing access to institutional credit. 

As per the official statement, this sub-scheme will help to create a National Fisheries Digital Platform to provide 40 lakh small and micro-enterprises work-based identities. The scheme will be implemented for 4  years from FY 2023-24 to FY 2026-27 across all the States and UTs. 

The Cabinet has also approved the extension of the Fisheries Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) for another 3 years up to 2025-26. The government approved the fund size of  7522.48 crore rupees and budgetary support of  939.48 crore



rupees. To address the infrastructure requirement for the fisheries sector, the Government during 2018-19 created the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) with a total funds size of 7522.48 crore rupees.

Speaking about the importance of extension of the scheme, Mr Thakur said Further it will further leverage the financial resources, and encourage more investments in the development of infrastructure for fisheries and aquaculture both from the public and private sector.

In another important issue, the Cabinet also approved a proposal of the Department of Telecommunications to conduct a spectrum auction through which spectrum will be assigned to the successful bidders for providing telecom services. The official statement said the additional spectrum will improve the quality of telecom services and coverage for consumers. 

It informed that the auction will be held for spectrum in 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz frequency bands. It added that the Spectrum will be offered for assignment for a validity period of 20 years, with a valuation of Rs. 96,317.65 crore rupees.

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