Fishermen
There are plenty of lakes and ponds in the village. These mostly belong to absentee landlords and community centres. In order to run a fishing business, a group of people have to jointly lease a pond to rear fish. They have to pay amounts up to Rs 6 lakhs for three years to be able to breed fish and sell the produce.
Two kinds of pisciculture are done in the village.
Lakes owned by single owners are often barricaded to prevent pilferage. These are leased to partners looking to breed and sell adult fish like rohu. Once a year they open up the lakes for a ticket worth Rs 3000 inviting fishermen from far and wide and organise an all-you-can-fish event. Other than this, they breed large fishes and sell off their produce locally and in the neighbouring towns.
For common properties, the lakes are meant to harvest young fry which they sell off to bigger farms. The fisherman claim that this is the more profitable of the two. This year, however, because of the rains, the lakes had overflooded and all the young fish had escaped. This monsoon has not been kind to them.
They have not been able to avail credit from banks. The partners enter into an agreement based on their own financial capacities and invest in the ponds for a three-year lease. After the period is over, the tender is floated again and the fishermen can reinvest if profits are substantial.