As the world marks the first International Fisher Women’s Day today, TOI turns the spotlight on how Indian fisherwomen, long sidelined in policy and markets, are mobilising for equity — modernising trade, asserting identity, and breaking stereotypes It’s 9am, and Vaishali Gajanand Balasathi is already halfway through her workday. She’s done with the easy bit — waking at 3.30am, catching the 4.10am BEST bus from Mumbai’s Khar Danda to the wholesale fish market at Sassoon Dock, jostling with hundreds of men and women from one auctioneer to the next; and having her wares iced and trucked out to Bandra’s Chimbai street market, where she plies her trade. Now comes the hard part: sales. “After Covid, only a quarter of our customers have been coming to the market. The rest shop online,” sa

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