Honey Mission Programme
- This mission was launched in 2017-18 by Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), under the Ministry of MSME.
- This mission promote Bee Keeping activities and provide self-sustaining employment opportunities among farmers, Adivasies and unemployed youth in rural India, mainly in economically backward and remote areas.
- Launched in 2017 in line with the ‘Sweet Revolution’, the mission provided with Bee Boxes, live bee colonies, tool kits and training to the beneficiaries.
- [The 'Sweet Revolution' was launched in 2016 to promote beekeeping and associated activities.]
National Beekeeping & Honey Mission
- The National Beekeeping & Honey Mission (NBHM) was announced as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat scheme. The government allocated Rs. 500 crore for NBHM for three years (2020-21 to 2022-23).
- NBHM aims for the overall promotion & development of scientific beekeeping in the country to achieve the goal of ‘Sweet Revolution’ which is being implemented through National Bee Board (NBB).
- The main objective of NBHM is,
- To promote holistic growth of beekeeping industry for income & employment generation for farm and non-farm households,
- To enhance agriculture/ horticulture production, developing infrastructural facilities, including setting up of Integrated Beekeeping Development Centre (IBDC)s, honey testing labs, etc.
- To empower women through beekeeping.
- Besides, the scheme also aims to,
- Create awareness about scientific bee keeping ( Mini Mission-I),
- Post-harvest management of beekeeping, beehive products, including collection, processing, storage, marketing, value addition, etc. (Mini Mission-II) and
- Research & Technology generation in beekeeping (Mini Mission-III).
- It also aims to make farmers aware about the
- Distribution of specialized Beekeeping equipments for producing high value products, viz. Royal Jelly, Bee Venom, Comb Honey, etc,
- Studies on exploring potential of High Altitude Honey, production of special honey in Kannauj & Hathras Districts of UP and
- Use of mustard honey to cure colon cancer.
Boosting Production of Pulses
- The seed minikits of pulses are distributed to the farmers of major pulse growing States under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM).
- [National Food Security Mission (NFSM) aims to increase production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and commercial crops, oil seeds and oil palm through area expansion and productivity enhancement.]
- The district wise allocation and distribution of seed minikits is managed by the respective State Governments.
- Under NFSM, the States transfer the benefit to the targeted beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) by using Aadhar enabled system.
- Production and productivity of pulses under seed minikits programme is primarily monitored by State Government field functionaries and State Food Security Mission Executive Committee (SFSM-EC).
- [SFSM-EC is headed by Chief Secretary/Agriculture Production Commissioner.]
- Field visits of seed minikits fields are undertaken by National Level Monitoring Teams (NALMOTS) constituted by Agriculture Department.
Man Portable Anti-tank Guided Missile
- Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested indigenously developed Man Portable Antitank Guided Missile (MPATGM).
- MPATGM is a third generation, low weight, fire and forget Missile.
- The missile is incorporated with state-of-the-art Miniaturized Infrared Imaging Seeker along with advanced avionics.
H5Nx Virus
- IDSP State Surveillance Unit (SSU), Haryana has initiated an epidemiological investigation into the first human case of H5Nx Bird Flu.
- H5Nx (H5N8, H5N2, H5N6,etc) are highly pathogenic avian influenza A viruses (AIVs) include, etc.,
- H5N8 and H5N2 have caused major economic losses in the poultry industry in Europe and North America, and
- H5N6 virus has occurred in Asia causing lethal human infections.
- AIVs naturally circulate in wild aquatic birds, such as ducks, geese, swans, gulls, shorebirds, and terns.
- The H5 subtypes can present considerable risk to the human population.
- To know more about Avian Influenza Viruses, click here.
Warm Covid Vaccine
- Mynvax, a vaccine technology startup, incubated by the Society for Innovation and Development (SID) at the Indian Institute of Science, will bring a thermo-tolerant Covid vaccine to the market.
- This Vaccine formulation remained stable at 37 degrees Celsius up to a month, and at 100 degrees Celsius for up to 90 minutes.
- This stability of the vaccine makes it a “warm” Covid Vaccine.
- This unique heat tolerant attribute of the vaccine helps to increase access to the vaccine across the country.
Source: PIB, The Hindu, The Indian Express
