Blue Revolution - Neel Kranti Mission [UPSC Notes GS-III]

Blue Revolution also called as Neel or Nili Kranti Mission in India was launched in 1985-1990 during the 7th Five-Year Plan. The main objective is to develop, manage, and promote fisheries to double the farmers’ income. The topic, ‘Blue Revolution’ comes under the GS-III of the IAS Exam. Today, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying manage the objectives of Blue Revolution under the initiative – Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries’. Read more about it in this article.

Candidates reading about Blue Revolution are suggested to read about Agricultural Revolutions linked in the table below:

Introduction to the Blue Revolution

The Blue Revolution (Nili Kranti) is an initiative taken by the government for the growth of the aquaculture industry. It started in China as it accounts for around two-thirds of the total aquaculture production worldwide.

Recently, the aquaculture industry has been growing at an average rate of 9% a year and India is one of the fastest growers. The Neel Kranti Mission was the start of the Blue Revolution in India with the vision to achieve the economic prosperity of India keeping in view the sustainability, bio-security, and environmental concerns.

Nili Kranti in India

The Blue Revolution in India was launched during the 7th Five Year Plan (1985-1990) during the sponsorship of the Fish Farmers Development Agency (FFDA) by the Central Government of India. Later, during the 8th Five Year Plan (1992-97), the Intensive Marine Fisheries Program was launched, and eventually, the fishing harbours in Vishakhapatnam, Kochi, Tuticorin, Porbandar, and Port Blair were also established over the time.

Official PDF by Dept of Fisheries: http://www.nfdb.gov.in/PDF/Blue%20Revolution%20Final.pdf

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare along with the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries planned to restructure this scheme along with the other ongoing schemes by merging it under a single umbrella of ‘Blue Revolution’. This scheme focused on the development and management of fisheries controlled by the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB).

The components that are included under the Blue Revolution Schemes are :

• National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) and its activities
• Strengthening of Database & Geographical Information System of the Fisheries Sector
• Development of Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture
• National Scheme of Welfare of Fishermen
• Development of Marine Fisheries, Infrastructure and Post-Harvest Operations
• Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) and other need-based Interventions
• Institutional Arrangement for the Fisheries Sector

Objectives of the Blue Revolution/Neel Kranti Mission

The Nili Kranti Mission aimed to enhance the economic condition of India through the augmentation of fisheries and thus contributing towards the food and nutritional security. The utilization of the water resources for the development of fisheries was done by the Neel Kranti Mission in a sustainable manner.

The objectives of the Nili Kranti mission  are mentioned below:

1. Completely tapping the total fish potential of India on both islands as well as in the marine sector and to triple the production by the year 2020.
2. Transforming the fisheries sector into a modern industry through the utilization of new technologies and processes.
3. Doubling the income of the fishers through increased productivity and improving the post-harvest marketing infrastructure including e-commerce, technologies, and global best innovators.
4. To ensure the active participation of the fishers and the fish farmers in income enhancement.
5. Tripling the export earnings by the year 2020 with a major focus on the benefits covering the institutional mechanisms.
6. Developing the nutritional and food security of the nation.

Features of the Blue Revolution Scheme

Some of the salient features of the Blue Revolution Scheme are:

• Providing suitable linkages and convergence with the ‘Sagarmala Project’ of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA), Ministry of Shipping, National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), etc.
• The Blue Revolution scheme concentrates mainly on enhancing the production and productivity of aquaculture and fisheries both from the inland and marine sources.
• Promoting and encouraging the economically backward sections like the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Women, and their co-operatives to take up fishing.
• The Blue Revolution Scheme also encourages entrepreneurship development, private investment, Public-Private Partnership (PPP), and better leveraging of institutional finance.

Read about some related topic from the links below:

Blue Revolution in India – Outcomes

The Blue Revolution in India along with the Fish Farmers Development Agency (FFDA) brought an improvement in the aquaculture and fisheries sector with the introduction of new techniques of rearing, marketing, exporting, and fish breeding.

Some of the major outcomes of the Blue Revolution in India are mentioned below:

1. Currently, the Indian Fisheries Sector reached a production of 4.7 million tonnes of fish  including 1.6 million tonnes of fish from freshwater aquaculture from a limit of 60,000 tonnes (50 years ago)
2. India is recorded to achieve an average annual growth of 14.8% as compared to the global average percentage of 7.5 in the production of fish and fish products.
3. The fishery has become India’s largest agricultural export over the last five years with a growth rate of 6% – 10%.
4. India has become the world’s second-largest producer of fish with exports worth more than 47,000 crore rupees.
5. The fisheries and aquaculture production contributes 1% and 5% to India’s GDP and Agricultural GDP respectively.

Also, read about the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) in the linked article.

Blue Revolution in India [UPSC Notes GS-III] – Download PDF Here

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