The state of Assam is endowed with copious aquatic wealth in the form of beels, swamps, ponds, tanks and rivers. With the total area of nearly 3.74 lakh ha, the total fisheries resources of Assam is highest in the country. Fisheries and aquaculture sector in India is one of the unorganized sectors of the country. The information on the socio-economic conditions of fishers/fish farmers is practically not available and wherever available, there reliability is questioned. Planners and policy makers can make development plans and policies for a weaker section only if these estimates are available on regular basis and in reliable manner. Keeping these facts in mind, Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries sanctioned a pilot project to have preliminary estimates of literacy, health and income for different sections of fisheries sector. The present study is conducted under this project during year 2010 to have rapid estimates of socio-economic indicators for literacy, health and income for the freshwater aquaculture fishers. A sample of 100 freshwater aquaculture fish farmers was selected from four districts namely Nagaon, Morigaon, Barpeta, and Kamrup districts of Assam. The data was collected on a well structured questionnaire using personal interview method. The primary data was collected on demographic pattern, literacy level, health status and income and expenditure of aquaculture fishers. The results indicated family size at 5 members per household with 2.05 adults per minor and 1.36 males per female. Regarding literacy estimates only 13.07 percent of the sampled population was illiterate, while most of the remaining members were literate up to high school level. Only 6.30 percent members have attended the college. Average distance for primary school was 0.37 km, as compared to 1.05 km for high school and around 5.8 km for college. Vaccination of children for BCG and Polio was done mostly at recommended age while no vaccination was reported for MMR and Pox. The reason behind the lack of MMR and Pox vaccination was not covered under the government vaccination programme for mother and child care. In health domain, Fever flu occurred most frequently around 1.4 times a year in both male and female, Diarrhea were 1.37 times/year for male. Among children, fever and diahorrea was quite common. The monthly income was estimated at Rs 3654/-. The major share of income was of fisheries (64%). The monthly expenditure was Rs 2036/- with over 57 percent expenses on food. Child education was the second major expenditure for sampled household. It was found that 13 percent of the sampled inhabitants borrowed money. The source of the credit was mostly public sector banks. The problems of the fish farmers were diverse, which should be addressed through a holistic approach to have a sustainable development of this poor rural community
