Welfare schemes for fishers of Bargi reservoir, Madhya Pradesh: Awareness and access

The study was conducted in 6 fishing villages of the Bargi reservoir of Madhya Pradesh. Interviews were conducted with 6 chairpersons of Fisheries Cooperative Societies (FCS), fisheries officials of Madhya Pradesh Fisheries Federation and 180 fishers. To assess the awareness and access of welfare schemes, schemes of Madhya Pradesh Fisheries Federation were listed by the fisheries officials through an interview schedule. After that, awareness about schemes and the extent of schemes availed by the fishers and chairpersons of FCS were explored using semi-structured personal interviews and key informant interviews, respectively. Kruskal-Wallis test was employed to study the differences among fishing villages regarding access to schemes. Later, the source of information dissemination and constraints faced by the fishers in availing schemes were collected using Focus Group Discussions. Constraints were ranked using the Rank Based Quotient (RBQ) method. Fishers perception about the impact of Madhya Pradesh Fisheries Federation interventions was estimated using percentage analysis. The results indicate that most (87%) of the fishers were aware of the schemes, though only 45.13 per cent have availed them. However, all the chairpersons of FCS were knowledgeable and availed of the schemes. Kruskal-Wallis test revealed a highly significant difference in the access to schemes at a 0.05 per cent level of significance among the six sample fishing villages, with Narayanganj followed by Ghagagwari having maximum access to schemes. About 35 per cent of fishers indicated FCS chairpersons as the source of information on schemes, while 25 per cent of fishers directly seek information from fisheries officials, and 18 per cent of fishers depend on FCS meetings as a source of information. About 48 per cent of fishers believed that information about schemes should be disseminated through printed material and 64 per cent favored information dissemination to individual fishers rather than FCS. The major constraints perceived in availing of schemes were favoritism, non-availability of loan on time, delay in the release of money, corruption at a higher level, not being appropriately informed by officials, cumbersome procedures, lack of awareness about schemes, and lack of sufficient assistance.