‘Udambadi,’ Malayalam for agreement, is a word apparently loathed by a considerable section of seafaring fishermen in the State.
It implies the right a “blade” (local phraseology for loan sharks who lend money at usurious interest rates and often use violence to recover it) has over a portion of the catch a seafaring fisherman who is indebted to him nets on a day.
The questionable practice of Udambadi is steadily becoming prevalent, with considerable social consequences, in the densely populated coastal areas of the district. Fishing families here have relatively less access to bank loans and are often forced to rely on loan sharks for money to replace or repair their fishing gear. They also rely on them for “urgent cash” to meet unforeseen expenses, including for medical treatment.
An increasing number of fishermen are forced to part with a significant portion of their hard-earned catch, normally up to 20 per cent of it, as interest for the loans they have taken from illegal moneylenders.
In extreme cases, the so called “blade mafia” usurps the entire catch of their clients and denies the fishermen even their inherent right to set the “first price” for their day’s harvest.
The loan sharks, who profit from the racket, rarely consider the principal amount paid and ensnare their clients in an almost permanent debt trap.
The unchecked operations of the “blade mafia” are putting an ever increasing number of fishing families in the State on the breadline, says T. Peter, national secretary of the National Fish Workers Forum (NFWF).
Thiruvananthapuram, followed by Kasaragod, has the largest number of women fish hawkers, an estimated 10,000. They are a largely unorganised workforce whose rights are perhaps most trampled upon by the “blade mafia”.
Most of them set out well before daybreak from their homes to purchase fish from wholesale markets and fish-landing centres, including those as far as Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, and spend the better part of the day hawking the perishable goods in urban neighbourhoods.
According to a police investigator, documents seized from moneylenders who exploit the economic vulnerabilities of traditional fishermen show that the moneylenders often charge fish hawkers an interest of up to Rs.1,000 a day on a loan of Rs.1 lakh (usually, a group of hawkers together borrow such huge amounts), an annual interest rate of 360 per cent compared to the nominal 12 to 14 per cent charged by banks.
Such loan sharks seek promissory notes, stamp papers, and land deeds as surety from their clients. In addition, they also force them to sign land-sale agreements to show on record that the loan was actually an advance for the borrower’s property.
Mr. Peter says that the traditional strengths of the fisher folk community, including a spirit of sharing bolstered by the beliefs spread by the Latin Catholic church, prevent many debt-ridden families from committing suicide.
A meeting of the NFWF held at Kovalam here on Saturday was a venue for scores of fisher-folk families to air their grievances collectively. Their spiritual head, Archbishop M. Susaipakiam, had recently urged the government to pass a law to protect the interests of the fishing community in the State.
