Fishing rights in the Ganga

In a three-minute speed talk, ATREE PhD scholar Nachiket Kelkar, who studies conflict and adaptation in Gangetic Fisheries, talks about how the exploitative panidari system (the riverine counterpart of feudal Zamindari or landlording system) of fishing in the Ganges was overthrown by a social movement only to be replaced by an equally dangerous fishing mafia.

"Since the panidari system was overthrown fishing has continued over the last 25 years under a different regime, yet hardly anything is different from the feudal days. A new ‘fishery mafia’ class emerged soon after 1991. The mafia started physically barricading entire channels and using destructive fishing gears that kill off fish spawn and young in huge numbers. Their criminal gangs regularly extort large shares from fish catches and assault fishermen who cannot pay up. These changes have made the Ganga an extremely dangerous place to fish, and several families have moved out of fishing permanently."[sic.]
- Nachiket Kelkar