The Standing Committee on Agriculture, headed by P C Gaddigoudar, in a report noted that fisheries sector contributes 1 per cent to the GDP of the country and 5 per cent to the agriculture GDP.
The committee noted that the allocation proposed by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying for the financial year 2020-21 was Rs 8,396 crore.
"However, the funds allocated by the Ministry of Finance are Rs 3,704.13 crore," it added.
The report pointed out that during 2017-18 and 2018-19, the budgetary allocation was Rs 2,367.77 crore against the proposed amount of Rs 4,676.19 crore, and Rs 2,832.55 crore against a proposed amount of Rs 4,930.57 crore.
Similarly, during 2019-20, against a proposed amount of Rs 3,532.47 crore, the allocation at the BE (budget estimate) stage was reduced to Rs 3,342.65 crore, the report said.
The Committee in a separate report also observed that there was huge reduction in the funds allocated to the Department of Fisheries at BE stage during 2017-18 to 2020-21 as against the funds proposed by the Department and this has adversely effected the various activities and target of the sector. BKS MRMR