Manashi Pattayet is a 52-year-old fisherwoman living in Udaypur Village in the Balasore District of Odisha (PO- Bhograi, PS-Marine Talasari) with her husband Khagendra Pattayet and their four daughters and one son.

Khagendra used to work as a fisherman, but due to old age, he was now unable to continue with this physically demanding occupation. Thus, the burden of running the family invariably fell on Manashi’s shoulders. The poverty cycle was eternal in the family, and with the increasing price of daily commodities, it was becoming increasingly impossible to make both ends meet.

Manashi has already married off one of her daughters. The other three could not be married off due to the dowry malpractice which is still prevalent in the area. The children had to be withdrawn from school as it was located far away from their residence and hence, their education also remained incomplete.

Manashi’s husband became associated with ECFWU and has been taking part in meetings. East Coast Fish Workers Union (ECFWU) is an organisation of the fish farmers primarily working in the coastal district of Balasore in Odisha. It is a trade union and thousands of fish workers both men and women are members of this organisation. ECFWU is one of the Farmer Organizations that are part of MTCP2 India.

When he expressed the financial turmoil of his family, he was advised to bring his wife along with him. Manashi was then encouraged to start her career in order to save her family which was by then bankrupt. After the initial hesitation and some counseling sessions by the other members who have been benefitted by the organization, Manashi finally agreed to start to work with them.

In 2000, Manashi enrolled at ECFWU and her first big achievement towards her career was procuring the “Fisherman/Woman Smart Card”. This card entitles her to apply for small loans (freeing her from the clutches of shrewd local money lenders) and take part in the fishermen association. This also saved her from police raids.

Manashi now actively participates in various capacity building training programs organized by ECFWU. She also fishes for small fishes in the shallow sea waters and goes to sell them in the local markets of Sahabjipur Bazaar or Chandaneswar Bazaar. She makes a daily earning of around INR 100-300 (USD 1.32 – 4) depending on the catch.

With the help of ECFWU Manashi’s family also receives a monthly allotment of 5 kg rice per head under the “Khadya Suraksha Yojana”. She says, “I am very happy now. Thanks to ECFWU, I am able to provide sustainable nourishment to my family and we have been rescued from our state of grave poverty.” #

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