Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday witnessed the start of the ambitious ‘Honey Mission’ initiated by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). President Ram Nath Kovind, visited the apiary set up by the KVIC inside the Rastrapati Bhavan.
The President spent time in the apiary to understand the process of honey production, which was explained to him by the KVIC Chairman VK Saxena. The President also distributed honey bottles to the students of Dr Rajendra Prasad Vidyalaya situated in the Rastrapati Bhavan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that along with "Shwet Kranti" there is also need to launch "Sweet Kranti". The PM 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.
last month, the KVIC set up an apiary of 150 bee boxes in the Rasrtrapati Bhavan. This will be increased up to 500 boxes in the next few months and produce around 15,000 kg of high quality honey.
To celebrate World Honey bee Day falling on Saturday, the KVIC distributed 10,000 bottles of honey to the school children across the country. In which 250 bottles were distributed to special children of President Estate, 1,200 bottles to the Dr Rajendra Prasad Vidyalaya of President Estate, and 1,200 bottles to NPCo Education Sr Secondary School of NDMC on Saturday.
Addressing the school children BJP MP Meenakshi lekhi emphasised the importance of honey and honey bees. She also explained the nutrition value of honey and its impact building "Swasth Bharat" bees and said that bees are fine example of collective discipline. Minister of Micro, small and medium enterprises Kalraj Mishra and his deputy Giriraj Singh, Dr Arun Kumar Panda, Secretary, MSME, Naresh Kumar, Chairman, NDMC, BH Anil Kumar, Joint secretary MSME and CEO KVIC were also present.
Addressing on this occasion the KVIC Chairman said, "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 boosting immunity and purifies blood we are distributing honey to the school children for promoting good health.