Formation Scheme of JHASCOFISH

What is the Formation Scheme of JHASCOFISH?

Formation Scheme of JHASCOFISH is the state programme under which the Jharkhand State Co-operative Fisheries Federation Ltd was established and is sustained. The federation, abbreviated JHASCOFISH, is the apex co-operative body for fisheries in Jharkhand, sitting above the primary fishermen co-operative societies in the districts. The Directorate of Fisheries, under the Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department, is the parent department.

This is an institutional scheme rather than a citizen benefit scheme. There is no application form on which an individual fisherman writes his name and receives a rupee amount. What the scheme does is build and fund the structure. The federation, its district coordination and its member societies, through which several real benefits then reach fishermen. Understanding that distinction saves a great deal of wasted travel to Ranchi.

According to the federation's own pages, JHASCOFISH has a membership of 192 fishermen co-operative societies and is affiliated to FISHCOPFED, the national federation of fishers, at New Delhi. It operates across all 24 Jharkhand districts with coordination through district-level offices.

What are the objectives of JHASCOFISH?

The federation states its objectives as:

• Managing state reservoirs and revenue ponds, directly or through fishermen co-operative societies.
• Providing financial assistance for fisheries development.
• Assisting in the preservation of fish and other aquatic produce.
• Supporting the marketing of fish and aquatic products.
• Facilitating training and skill development for members.
• Promoting alternative aquaculture activities such as ornamental fisheries, pearl culture and cage culture.
• Implementing fishermen welfare schemes, including housing and insurance.

The last of these is the one most fishing families feel directly. Housing under the Ved Vyas Awaas Yojana is published by the Directorate at a unit cost of Rs 1.20 lakh per house with 100 per cent assistance, and the group accident insurance under PMMSY covers fishermen aged 18 to 70 with Rs 5 lakh for death or complete disability, Rs 2.50 lakh for partial disability and Rs 25,000 towards hospitalisation.

Who is eligible under the Formation Scheme of JHASCOFISH?

Eligible:

• Registered fishermen co-operative societies in Jharkhand, which take membership of the federation.
• Fishermen who are members of those primary societies, who reach the benefits through their society.
• Families displaced by state reservoirs, whom the Directorate names as a target group for reservoir cage culture and stocking benefits routed through societies.

Not eligible:

• Private fish trading firms, wholesalers and aquaculture companies that are not registered fishermen co-operative societies cannot take membership.
• Unregistered or defunct societies are not eligible until registration is revived and a valid managing committee is in place.
• Individuals seeking a direct cash grant are not eligible, because this is an institutional scheme. The website does carry a "Member JHASCOFISH" application section, so an individual interested in enrolment should confirm the current position with the federation office rather than assume either way.
• Applicants outside Jharkhand are not eligible.

What does JHASCOFISH provide to member societies?

Production and inputs

• Fish seed production and sale.
• Floating fish feed production, the Directorate operates feed mills at Ranchi, Chandil, Dhanbad and Bokaro.
• Demonstration units for fish production and cage culture.
• Supply of fishing equipment, including nets, coracles and plankton collection nets.

Infrastructure

• Office buildings and fish sale centres for co-operative societies.
• Deep freezer and pickup van distribution.
• Non-formal education centres for fishermen's children.

Services

• Skill development programmes for fishermen.
• Consultancy in fisheries and project formulation assistance.
• Technical guidance for fish culture.
• The Fishermen Welfare Fund (Machhua Kalyan Kosh).
• Awareness meetings with fishermen co-operative societies across the state.

How to apply for JHASCOFISH membership and benefits

1. Form or revive a primary fishermen co-operative society in your area, or join one that already exists. Registration under the co-operative societies law of the state is the gateway; nothing else in this scheme works without it.
2. Pass a managing committee resolution in the primary society deciding to seek affiliation to JHASCOFISH and naming the office bearer authorised to sign and to operate the account.
3. Assemble the papers; registration certificate, bye-laws, membership register, bank account details of the society, and identity proof of the authorised office bearer.
4. Submit the membership application to JHASCOFISH at Ranchi, or route it through your District Fisheries Officer, who can confirm the current form and fee position.
5. Once affiliated, apply for the specific component you need, an office-cum-fish sale centre is applied for directly to JHASCOFISH, while pond, seed, feed and training components go through the District Fisheries Office.
6. Attend the federation's Aam Sabha and elections. Notices for the general body and election papers are published on the Directorate's website, and a society that does not participate loses its voice in how reservoir and pond leases are allotted.

How do individual fishermen benefit?

Individual fishermen benefit through their society rather than from the federation directly. In practice this means:

• Access to reservoir cage culture, where modular and GI pipe cages have been floated in different reservoirs. The Directorate names members of fishermen co-operative societies and displaced reservoir populations as the eligible group.
• A share in reservoir fingerling stocking, which raises the catch available to the society's fishing families.
• Free residential training at the Fish Farmers Training Centre, Ranchi, a five-day course for fish culturists and a three-day course for seed growers, with a stipend and actual train or bus fare from the district headquarters.
• Subsidised spawn for trained seed growers, who rear and sell it independently, with two-day workshops at the training centre.
• Welfare cover, the housing and group accident insurance components above.

How does the federation fit with the rest of the department?

JHASCOFISH does not replace the Directorate of Fisheries; the two work on different sides of the same programme. The Directorate holds the government schemes, the district offices, the annual physical targets and the sanctioning power for pond, seed, feed and training assistance. JHASCOFISH holds the co-operative structure — the primary societies, the reservoir and revenue pond leases worked through those societies, the sale centres, and the federation's own trading in seed, feed and equipment.

For a fisherman this means two different doors for two different needs. Anything that involves a government subsidy against an asset, a new pond at the published unit cost of Rs 3.00 lakh per acre, subsidised at 90 per cent for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and 80 per cent for others: goes to the District Fisheries Office. Anything that involves the co-operative, the right to fish a reservoir, a sale centre, a freezer, a pickup van, welfare fund support: goes through the primary society and the federation.

The federation's own strength is the reason the formation scheme exists at all. A single fishing family has no bargaining power against a fish trader and no capacity to buy a freezer. A society of a few dozen families, backed by a state federation with 192 member societies and national affiliation to FISHCOPFED, can hold a reservoir lease, run a cold chain and negotiate a price. The scheme funds that organising work rather than the fish.

Why do society applications stall?

• Registration lapsed or no elected managing committee, which is the most frequent single cause.
• No resolution authorising the application or the signatory.
• Membership register not maintained, so the society cannot show its fishermen members.
• Society bank account not operational, or benefits sought into an individual's personal account.
• Annual targets exhausted for the component sought, deferring an otherwise sound proposal to the next financial year.

Where do I get help?

• JHASCOFISH, Ranchi, for federation membership and office-cum-fish sale centres.
• District Fisheries Office in your district, for every district-level component and for guidance on forming a society.
• Director of Fisheries, Jharkhand: 7903048084 or 7762812020.
• Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department, Nepal House, Doranda, Ranchi-834002, phone 0651-2490578 and 0651-2490929.
• Directorate and federation website: jharkhandfisheries.org, which carries the JHASCOFISH objective, activities and membership pages along with Aam Sabha and election notices.

The year of registration of JHASCOFISH and its share capital structure are not stated on the federation's published pages, so this guide does not give them. Societies needing those details for a project proposal should ask the federation office at Ranchi in writing.

How to check your application status

There is no online status tracker for JHASCOFISH membership or component applications, because this is an institutional scheme routed through co-operative societies rather than a portal-based citizen scheme. A society follows up its own file rather than a website reference number.

For a society membership or office-cum-fish sale centre application submitted to JHASCOFISH, Ranchi:

1. Note the date of submission and the name of the office bearer who signed and delivered the application, since JHASCOFISH keeps no acknowledgement slip system that generates a tracking number.
2. Call the federation office at Ranchi and ask for the status by the society's registration number and the date the papers went in.
3. If the office bearer who submitted the file is available to visit in person, a physical follow-up at the JHASCOFISH office at Ranchi usually gets a faster answer than a phone call, since the file sits in a physical register there.

For pond, seed, feed, training or reservoir cage culture applications routed through the district:

1. Contact the District Fisheries Officer of the district where the society is registered, quoting the society's name and the date the request was submitted.
2. Ask specifically whether the request is pending scrutiny, pending the season's target allocation, or already sanctioned and awaiting release of material or funds, since these three stages get confused with each other when a society only asks "has it been approved."
3. Where the component depends on an annual physical target (for example a subsidised pond or a feed allotment), also ask whether this year's target for that component is still open, because a proposal can be otherwise complete and simply waiting for the next financial year.

General escalation, if a district office does not respond:

• Call the Director of Fisheries, Jharkhand at 7903048084 or 7762812020 and ask for the status to be checked against the district's own records.
• Write to the Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department at Nepal House, Doranda, Ranchi-834002, or call 0651-2490578 or 0651-2490929, if the district office and the federation office both give no clear answer.
• Check jharkhandfisheries.org for Aam Sabha and election notices, since a society's standing in these can affect how its pending applications are treated at the next general body meeting.

Because there is no digital reference number in this process, keeping a photocopy of every submitted application and the name of the official who received it is the only reliable way for a society to prove what was filed and when, if a status enquiry runs into a dispute.