Scheme for the Welfare of Scheduled Caste Families in the Fisheries Sector — Haryana

What is the Scheduled Caste Families Welfare Scheme in fisheries?

Scheme for the Welfare of Scheduled Caste Families in the Fisheries Sector is a Department of Fisheries, Haryana scheme that pays the larger part of the running cost of fish culture for Scheduled Caste families. The scheme is listed on the State DBT Portal, dbtharyana.gov.in, under the Department of Fisheries, and its component services are delivered through the Antyodaya-SARAL portal at saralharyana.gov.in.

The scheme addresses a specific, well-documented problem. In Haryana, as across north India, village pond fisheries have historically been worked by Scheduled Caste families, but working a pond and owning the crop are different things. A family that leases a panchayati pond has to pay the lease money up front, then buy fish seed, then feed the crop for months before a single fish can be sold. That is a long cash gap, and it is exactly the gap that pushes small operators into informal borrowing or into selling the crop early at a poor price. Subsidising inputs at 60 per cent, rather than subsidising a capital asset, is a direct answer to that cash-flow problem.

What does the scheme pay?

The headline component is the input subsidy. According to the Fisheries Department, Haryana, the scheme provides:

60% subsidy for the Inputs amounting to Rs. 1,50,000/- or Rs. 90,000/- per hectare whichever is less with maximum limit of 4.00 hectare per SC farmer.

Two limits therefore apply together. There is a per-hectare ceiling of Rs 90,000 per hectare, and there is an overall ceiling of Rs 1,50,000, with the lower of the two governing. The area cap is 4 hectares per Scheduled Caste farmer. In practice this means a farmer with roughly 1.67 hectares or more under fish culture reaches the Rs 1,50,000 overall ceiling, and additional area beyond that does not increase the amount.

The department states that the assistance is applicable on own land, panchayati ponds and government reservoirs, so a family that has leased a village pond is covered on the same footing as a family that has dug a pond on its own land.

Beyond inputs, the department's technical and financial assistance page lists the Welfare of Scheduled Castes Families Scheme as providing up to 60 per cent subsidy on:

• Lease money for panchayati ponds. The amount paid to the gram panchayat to take a village pond on lease.
• Fishing nets and equipment. Under the parallel Intensive Fisheries Development Programme the department applies 40 per cent for general beneficiaries and 60 per cent for SC and women beneficiaries on fishing nets, so the Scheduled Caste rate is the higher one.
• Annual auction of notified waters. The sum paid to secure fishing rights in a notified water body at the annual auction.
• Fish vending units, support for the retail end of the trade, which matters because in Haryana a large share of Scheduled Caste families in fisheries are in vending rather than in culture.
• Inputs, as described above.

Who is eligible for the scheme?

A family qualifies if:

• The applicant belongs to a Scheduled Caste notified for Haryana and holds a valid caste certificate from the competent authority.
• The applicant is a resident of Haryana and is engaged in fish culture, fishing, pond leasing or fish vending in the state.
• The applicant has a valid right over the water body; ownership of the land, a subsisting panchayati pond lease, or an allotment or auction of a government reservoir or notified water.
• The area claimed for the input subsidy is within 4 hectares.
• The applicant holds Aadhaar, a Family ID and an Aadhaar-seeded bank account for the DBT release.
• The applicant is able to produce bills for the inputs purchased, since the subsidy is reimbursed against actual expenditure.

A person cannot apply if:

• The applicant does not belong to a Scheduled Caste. This scheme is funded from the Scheduled Caste component and a general or backward class applicant is not eligible under it; the Intensive Fisheries Development Programme is the correct route for such an applicant.
• The applicant has no lease, allotment or ownership over the water body being claimed for.
• The applicant is claiming for area beyond the 4 hectare cap.
• The applicant has already drawn the input subsidy for the same water body in the same crop cycle.
• The applicant has no bills for the inputs claimed. An estimate or a hand-written slip is not enough.
• The pond or water body lies outside Haryana.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the SC fisheries welfare scheme in Haryana

1. Meet the District Fisheries Officer in your district, tell the officer you are applying under the Scheduled Caste welfare component, and confirm which of the components — inputs, lease money, nets, auction or vending unit; fits your case and whether the district still has an allocation for the year.
2. Secure the water body. Complete the panchayati pond lease, the reservoir allotment or the auction, and get the lease deed or receipt in your own name.
3. Register and log in on saralharyana.gov.in with your Family ID and mobile number.
4. Select the Fisheries Department service for the Welfare of Scheduled Caste Families in the Fisheries Sector and open the application form for the component you want.
5. Fill the form and upload the documents: caste certificate, Aadhaar, Family ID, lease or ownership papers, bank passbook and the area under culture: then submit and save the SARAL reference number.
6. Buy the inputs and keep every bill. Fish seed, feed, fertiliser, lime and nets must all be supported by invoices in the applicant's name.
7. Allow the departmental verification of the pond, the area and the stocking, which fisheries staff carry out before the claim is passed.
8. Submit the bills for the subsidy claim and track the DBT credit into your Aadhaar-seeded bank account.

How to check the status of an application

1. Log in to saralharyana.gov.in and use Track Application Status with the SARAL reference number.
2. Use the Track Now option on the SARAL home page, which works with the reference number and registered mobile number without a login.
3. Ask the District Fisheries Officer where the file stands, especially after the pond verification visit.
4. Escalate to the Fisheries Department, Haryana, Bays No 31-32, Sector 4, Panchkula, whose contact details are published on harfish.gov.in.

Why claims under this scheme get rejected

• Caste certificate missing, expired or issued outside Haryana. This is the single condition on which the whole scheme rests.
• No valid lease or allotment over the panchayati pond or reservoir, or a lease that expired before the crop cycle ended.
• Area claimed exceeds 4 hectares, or the area declared does not match the area verified on the ground.
• Bills missing, unnamed or dated outside the crop cycle for which the claim is made.
• Double claim. The same pond claimed under both this scheme and the Intensive Fisheries Development Programme for the same period.
• Pond not stocked at the time of verification, or stocked far below the declared quantity of seed.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT release fails and reverses.
• District allocation exhausted for the Scheduled Caste component in that financial year.

What technical help comes with the money

The Fisheries Department, Haryana provides support that is separate from the subsidy and costs nothing:

• Help in getting a village pond on lease from the gram panchayat, which is often the hardest step for a first-time applicant.
• Help in obtaining a bank loan for fish culture.
• Training programmes and refresher courses in pond management.
• Pond site analysis and planning, and advice on stocking density and species mix.
• Supply of quality seed and feed, so that the input subsidy is not spent on poor stock.
• Disease monitoring and fish health management.
• Support with harvesting, transportation and marketing.

A Scheduled Caste applicant taking a pond for the first time should use all of these, because the input subsidy protects the cash flow but does not by itself prevent a bad crop.

Where to get help

• District Fisheries Officer in your district. The first contact for eligibility, pond lease help, verification and claims.
• Fisheries Department, Haryana, Bays No 31-32, Sector 4, Panchkula.
• harfish.gov.in, the department portal, which publishes the scheme page and the technical and financial assistance list.
• saralharyana.gov.in, the Antyodaya-SARAL portal, for applying and tracking.
• CM Window, the SMGT portal, the Jan Samvaad portal and CPGRAMS, all linked from the Fisheries Department's citizen corner, for grievances.

Applying is free. No agent can charge a Scheduled Caste family to "get the pond subsidy sanctioned", and every rupee is credited by Direct Benefit Transfer into the beneficiary's own Aadhaar-seeded account after departmental verification.