The self-sustainability measures initiated by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic have begun yielding results. The distressed migrant workers who were engaged with KVIC’s Honey Mission in Uttar Pradesh in the month of August, have reaped their first honey harvest and are awaiting a bumper yield in the months from December to March.
To begin with, five migrant workers in Western UP’s Muzaffarnagar district extracted 253 kg of honey from their 50 honey bee boxes that were distributed to them on August 25 this year. Raw honey sells at an average of Rs 200 per kg and at this rate it is estimated to fetch nearly Rs 50,000 to the migrant workers. This means an average income of Rs 10,000 to each of these beneficiaries. A total of 700 bee boxes were distributed to 70 migrant workers after training by KVIC in this region. Honey extraction from remaining bee boxes will continue in coming days.
The production of honey from these boxes will increase by at least 5 times in the months from December to March as the Eucalyptus and Mustard crop will be in full bloom during the season. Each of these bee boxes will produce nearly 25 kg of honey during the peak season. Further, the beekeepers will be able to migrate their boxes to nearby states like Haryana, Rajasthan and Eastern Uttar Pradesh where honey bees will find abundance of pollen and nectar and thus add to honey production.
KVIC Chairman Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena said it was heartening to see the migrant workers reconnecting to their roots and engaging in self-employment. “These distressed workers who had returned to their home from other cities were roped in with Honey Mission as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. It is great to see that in just three months the workers have begun earning livelihood on their own. The production of honey and their income will grow by manifold in coming months,” Saxena said.
The beneficiaries thanked KVIC for the support and said beekeeping enabled them to earn their own livelihood without having to migrate to other cities in search of jobs. “I am thankful to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi whose vision for Aatmanirbhar Bharat has created local employment for us. We are five workers who got 50 bee boxes and in just 3 months we have extracted 253 kg of honey,” said Amit Kumar, a KVIC beekeeper in Saharanpur district.
Notably, responding to the Prime Minister’s call for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, KVIC engaged hundreds of migrant workers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and engaged them with its flagship schemes like Honey Mission, Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana and Project DigniTEA among others. Apart from distributing them with essential tool kits; KVIC also provided technical training and supervision to the new beekeepers so as to support them.
Rs 900 crore Mission Covid Suraksha launched to accelerate vaccine development
PM follows up his 3 city visit by a virtual meeting with 3 more vaccine developers based in Pune and Hyderabad
PM’s direct interactions boost scientists’ morale
As the world races to develop the vaccine for Covid-19, India is looking to be self-reliant in both its development and production. While at least five pharmaceutical companies of India are engaged in vaccine development, Serum Institute in Pune has been chosen for mass production of Covishield vaccine developed by Oxford –Astra Zeneca. The government has initiated a robust Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing and delivery ecosystem to meet the demand.
Prime Minister has been personally monitoring the progress of vaccine development in India. He followed up his 3 city visit to the facilities of Zydus in Ahmedabad, Serum Institute in Pune and Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad on Saturday, with a virtual review of progress of indigenous vaccine development undertaken by Gennova Biopharma of Pune and Biological E and Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories in Hyderabad today. PM asked the companies to come out with their suggestions and ideas regarding the regulatory processes and related matters. He also suggested that they should take extra efforts to inform the general public in simple language about the vaccine and related matters such as its efficacy etc. Matters relating to logistics, transport, cold chain etc in respect of delivering the vaccines were also discussed.
Rs 900 crore Mission Covid Suraksha Stimulus Package
Government of India has announced a stimulus package of Rs. 900 Crore for the Mission Covid Suraksha to promote indigenous vaccine development. The Covid-19 Vaccine Development Mission with end-to-end focus from preclinical development, through clinical development and manufacturing and regulatory facilitation for deployment, would consolidate all available and funded resources towards an accelerated product development. The other important objective will be supporting the development of common harmonized protocols, training, data management systems, regulatory submissions, internal and external quality management systems and accreditations.
This grant will be provided to the Department of Biotechnology for Research & Development of Indian COVID-19 vaccines and ensure that they are fast tracked for introduction in public health systems, subject to all regulatory clearances. A total of 10 vaccine candidates have been supported by Department of Biotechnology so far at both academia and industry and as on date, five vaccine candidates are in human trials stage.
Growing world interest in India’s pharma capability
Ambassadors of 100 countries are scheduled to arrive in Pune on December 4, to visit Serum Institute of India and Gennova Biopharma. Sweden has already acknowledged India’s role as the ‘pharmacy of the world’ and is focusing on expanding bilateral cooperation in the areas of health and life sciences in view of the Coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, Luxembourg based company B Systems is partnering with India to produce portable vaccine refrigeration equipment, which will address the issue of vaccine distribution in India. It may be recalled that Prim Minister Modi had held a virtual summit with his Luxembourg counterpart Xavier Bettel on November 19 during which stress was laid on intensifying bilateral cooperation.