Mission: Sweet revolution

Considering the importance of pollination for the livelihood and income of farmers, food security and how endangered the bees have become in the last 50 years, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), on the World Honey Bee Day, kick started their 'honey mission' at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Prior to the month when the whole world celebrates the importance of bees and their products in our lives, KVIC went out of their way and took sweet steps to achieve their goal. They set up 150 bee boxes inside the president house which was appreciated by President, Ram Nath Kovind upon his visit.

Always on the lookout for innovative ideas to change the face of the nation, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi recently said that along with "Shwet Kranti" there is also a need to launch "Sweet Kranti." The PM's Vision is to make India a world leader in the production of honey and bee wax and convince the farmers to increase crop production through pollination.

The newly elected, 14th President of India not only spent a good time in the apiary to understand the process of honey production, which was explained to him by the KVIC Chairman V K Saxena, but he also distributed honey bottles to the students of Dr Rajendra Prasad Vidyalaya, situated in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Kalraj Misra, Minister MSME and Giriraj Singh, Minister of state, MSME were also present at this occasion.

In addition to the 150 bee boxes installed inside the bhavan, KVIC will install up to 500 more bee boxes in the next few months, which will produce around 15,000 kg of pure, high quality honey.

To celebrate World Honey Bee Day, KVIC has decided to distribute 10,000 bottles of honey to school children across the country, out of which 250 bottles were distributed to special children of President Estate, 1200 bottles to the students of Dr Rajendra Prasad Vidyalaya and around 1200 bottles to N P Co-Education Senior Secondary School of NDMC.

Shrinking habitat along with negative effects of expanding monoculture areas as well as modified and intensified grassland cultivation technology have led to decline in development of bee colonies. The situation is made worse by new bee diseases and pests, whose impacts are aggravated by deteriorating resistance of bee colonies and impacts of globalisation that allows for the transfer of pests over long distances.

While addressing the school children Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament, emphasized the importance of honey and honey bees. She also explained the nutrition value of honey and its impact in building a "Swasth Bharat."

V K Saxena, Chairman KVIC, Dr Arun Kumar Panda, Secretary, MSME, Naresh Kumar, Chairman, NDMC, B H Anil Kumar, JS MSME/CEO, KVIC were also present at this unique event.

Without bees, fruits and vegetables would be much less abundant since bees pollinate over 170,000 plant species and this is reason enough to raise awareness about the importance of bees and bee products.

Beyond the importance of pollination for the livelihood and income of farmers worldwide as well as for the food security, bees are of great importance for maintaining the ecological balance and ensuring the conservation of biodiversity in nature. At the same time, bees are important bio indicator of the state of the environment.

"We are taking ahead the objective of Prime Minister to make the sweet nectar available to each and every family for their daily consumption. Since honey helps in boosting immunity and purifies blood, we are distributing honey to school children for promoting good health," said V K Saxena on this initiative.