National Conference on Social Security and Skill Development for Fisherwomen was jointly organized by National Federation of Fishers Cooperatives FISHCOPFED, New Delhi and Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Institute of Fisheries Education ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai last week with the financial support of National Cooperative Union of India, NCUI, New Delhi.
Dr. Dinesh, CEO, National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), New Delhi was the Chief Guest of the programme. Dr. Gopal Krishna, Joint Director, ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai inaugurated the National Conference. B.K. Mishra, Managing Director, FISHCOPFED, PrakashLonare, Chairman, FISHCOPFED, Y. R. Pagare, Registrar, Fisheries Cooperative Societies, Mumbai and Ramdas Sandhe, Maharashtra State Fishery Cooperative Federation, were present on the occasion. The dignitaries were felicitated with a shawl.
B.K. Mishra, MD FISHCOPFED explained in detail about the National Conference on Social Security and Skill Development for Fisherwomen. He used the analogy of coming together of FISHCOPFED, ICAR-CIFE, and NCUI as Triveni and Sangam of Ganga Yamuna and Saraswati.
In his speech Mishra mentioned about the importance of social security for the fishing community. He further emphasized the importance of skill development for fisherwomen. He expressed his heartfelt thanks to Dr. W.S. Lakra, Director and Vice Chancellor, ICAR-CIFE for providing all facilities and guidance and said the CIFE was the right place to have such programmes on skill development. He explained that the technical sessions will have deliberations from various resource persons from the CIFE, Mumbai.
Dr. Gopal Krishna, Joint Director, ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai appreciated that ICAR-CIFE, FISHCOPFED and NCUI have come together to conduct a National Conference of such kind for the benefit of fisherwomen. The topic of the conference is very apt for the national development as fisherwomen play a vital role in economic development of the country.
Skill and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development for any country and Prime Minister Narendra Modiji has launched Skill India Campaign which included the launch of the National Skill Development Mission and unveiling of the new National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, he added.
Prakash Lonare, Chairman, FISHCOPFED stressed on the importance of providing social security to the fishing communities. Y. R. Pagare, Ramdas Sandhe and Dr Dinesh all spoke on the issue and promised to lend all support.
This was followed by the Technical Sessions which included deliberations from resource persons from ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai in Hindi and Marathi for the benefit of fisherwomen. Sadashiv Gopal Raje, retired Scientist presented his talk on Marine Fisheries Sector: Challenges and Solutions.
Dr. V.V. Singh, of CMFRI presented his lecture on Environmental Impact Assessment for Coastal Communities, Dr. S.N. Ojha, Scientist delivered a talk on Leadership in Fisheries Cooperatives, Dr. Paromita Banerjee Sawant, Senior Scientist, presented a lecture on Aquarium Keeping as a Business Activity for Coastal Fisherwomen, Dr. Geetanjali Deshmukhe, spoke on Seaweed Culture and its Products as an Alternative Livelihood for Fisherwomen.
