KVIC sets world record on World Honey-Bee Day

On the occasion of World Honey Bee Day, when Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena was distributing 1,000 bee-boxes among 100 Mishing Asamese tribe in the Kaziranga forest area, very few people actually knew that KVIC was creating a new sort of world record of distributing maximum number of bee-boxes in a single day – beating the record by Israel.

From the very moment Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call for 'Sweet Revolution', the KVIC became active with its enthusiastic 'Honey Mission'. The mission aims to meet the target of distributing 1, 30,000 bee-boxes before November 2018 across the nation – right from Narmada valley area of Gujarat to Kaziranga forest in Assam and hilly Pampore area of Jammu and Kashmir to dense forests of Mysuru. And, till the date, KVIC had distributed as many as 27,000 bee-boxes, which had happened for the very first time in India

The KVIC had not only distributed bee-boxes, rather it has aimed to create jobs for youths giving them, an adroit pair of hands. At Kaziranga, practical training was also imparted to those 100 beneficiaries in the examination of honeybee colonies, acquaintance with apicultural equipments, identification and management of bee enemies and diseases, honey extraction and wax purification, and management of bee colonies in spring, summer, monsoon, autumn and winter seasons.

Besides giving them certificates of trained bee-keepers, the KVIC experts also delved upon honey bee species, colony organization, the division of labor and life cycle of honey bees; management of honey bee colonies during different seasons. The KVIC also distributed 200 gms honey bottles to 500 school kids of Sankar Dev Sishu Niketan there at Kohera village in Kaziranga. As a whole, altogether 25,000 honey bottles were distributed across the country by KVIC on May 21.

KVIC Chairman V K Saxena, who himself monitors the progress of 'Honey Mission' round-the-clock said that besides the production of 30,000 kilograms of high-quality honey from these bee-boxes in the zero-pollution Kaziranga area, bee-keeping would open many job avenues for the unemployed youths and aspiring young entrepreneurs. "Being the nodal agency of Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), the KVIC would provide loans for setting up units of processing, packaging and labelling units for the honey," he said, adding, "The development initiatives taken by KVIC in Assam have given a ray of hope for tribal people here and they are willing to be the part of development. The bee-keeping will also enhance the rich flora and fauna of the Kaziranga forest area through cross-pollination."