News
Himachal training beekeepers in ‘artificial queen bee rearing’ to address falling horticultural crop productivity
Solan: To give a fillip to beekeeping and queen bee rearing, and address the issue of low productivity in horticultural crops like apple in Himachal Pradesh, 31 experienced beekeepers from the state underwent a three-week training programme at the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni.
The training was organized by the UHF’s Department of Entomology under the Himachal Pradesh Horticulture Development Programme, informed Suchet Attri – the Public Relation Officer, UHF.
He said all the participants were experienced beekeepers having colonies of Apis Cerena or Apis Mellifera. They were given training on bee breeding with special reference on queen production. The beekeepers will now undertake artificial mass rearing and queen rearing from their best performing colonies.
The state experiences low productivity and disease instances in honeybees due to the improper queens used to raise new colonies. If the queens are raised from healthy and better performing colonies, the disease incidences will be less and the productivity will also be good,
said Dr Harish Sharma Explaining about the training, senior entomologist and programme coordination.
He added that just like in agriculture and horticulture, good variety seeds and planting material is a prerequisite for a good crop. Similarly, in order to give a boost to beekeeping, a good-mated queen can be used by the beekeepers for raising new colonies and for sale to others.
This will reduce the time for raising good quality and healthy colonies. After this three-week training, most of the beekeepers are eager to undertake queen rearing for themselves and a few are planning to take it up as an entrepreneurial activity by selling queens.
In his address on the final day of the training, Dr JN Sharma, UHF’s Director of Research discussed the vital role played by bees in pollination and in increasing the production and quality of various crops. He also called upon the beekeepers to transform the beekeeping industry in the state. Dr GC Sharma, Head Department of Entomology spoke on the pioneering role played by the department in this field as a result of which the ICAR had rated the All India Coordinated Research Project running at the university as the Best Research and Training Center.
Dr Rajkumar Thakur, Joint Director (Communication) and former ICAR Project Coordinator of AICRP (Honey bees and Pollinators) stressed upon queen production by incorporating desired genes of higher productivity, gentle bee, having disease and mite resistance along with higher egg-laying capacity.
He said that the country needs to have a concrete breeding programme with a centralized database so that the colonies data of all breeders can be made available in a specific portal for effective breeding.
Pollination plays a big role in the production of various horticulture and agricultural crops. The contribution of horticulture to the state economy is quite large and can be increased further. The production of fruits like apple, cherry, pear, strawberry, oilseeds and various vegetable crops are highly dependent on pollination. At present, there are around 80,000 colonies and 1,500 beekeepers in the state.
Various aspects of beekeeping including different castes and life history of honeybees, commercial queen rearing and its equipment, colony selection, climatic and forage conditions required for queen rearing, management of colonies and honey production, pollination requirement of commercial vegetable and horticultural crops and safety of pollinators from pesticides were taken up during the three-week programme.
The participants also got an opportunity to visit PAU Ludhiana and interact with the scientists.
Shimla-Himachal Pradesh Government employees working in different departments before January 3, 2022, would be given a higher scale at par with other employees on completion of two years tenure of regular service. A higher pay scale was also announced for the Junior Office Assistants (IT) on completion of two years of regular service.
Chief Minister Jairam Thakur made these announcements during the Karamchari Maha Sammelan of the Himachal Pradesh Non-Gazetted Employees Federation at the hotel Peterhof on Sunday.
He appreciated the role played by the employee especially frontline workers in the battle against the pandemic.
He said most of the government employees in the state have been given revised pay scales and on average, every employee has got the benefit of a 12 to 15 percent salary hike. There has also been an increase in the pension of about 1.50 lakh pensioners of the state. The financial benefits of Rs. 7801 crore have been given to state government employees and pensioners from the year 2018 to 2022. The pensioners who retired before 2016 are getting the benefit of a 15 to 20 percent increase in the pension while around 40 thousand pensioners who retired after 2016 would be benefitted soon, he said.
He said the daily wages were Rs. 210 in the year 2017 which has been increased by the present state government to Rs. 350. Similarly, 12 per cent interim relief annually has been provided to government employees and pensioners during the present government’s tenure. He said the Himachal government has provided Dearness Allowance to its employees and pensioners on the lines of Punjab and Central governments from the due date. The Punjab government has given only 5 percent interim relief to the employees while the Himachal government has provided 21 percent interim relief to its employees.
“Out of the total interim relief amount given to the employees and pensioners amounting to about Rs. 6500 crore, Rs. 3500 crore has been paid during the tenure of our government” added the Chief Minister.
He said that the state government has increased the government contribution for NPS employees from 10 percent to 14 percent benefitting more than one lakh employees. The NPS employees are being given the benefits of retirement and death gratuity at par with employees falling under the old pension scheme. The government has also increased the upper limit of death gratuity from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh.
The Chief Minister said the state government has also increased the honorarium of para-workers working in various departments. The salary of outsource workers has been hiked by Rs 1,500 per month.
Non-Gazetted Employees Federation President Ashwani Thakur thanked the Chief Minister for providing various financial and other benefits to different categories of government employees.
New Delhi-The Centre has issued a notification to the States informing that the provisions of the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005 will not be invoked in the country after March 31. The Union Health Ministry said that the use of face masks and following hand hygiene will continue.
It implies that most of the Covid-related rules and restrictions would end.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued the notification which said that the decision was taken following the overall improvement in the situation and the preparedness of the government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, local authorities and State police can still invoke fines and criminal cases against persons violating COVID-19 norms under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a senior government official said.
The DM Act was invoked on March 24, 2020, due to the pandemic
“Over the last seven weeks or so there has been a steep decline in the number of cases. The total caseload in the country stands at 23,913 only and the daily positivity rate has declined to 0.28%. It is also worth mentioning that with the combined efforts, a total of 181.56 Cr vaccine doses have been administered,” the notification said.
“I would like to mention that in view of the nature of the disease, we still need to remain watchful of the situation. Wherever any surge in the number of cases is observed, the States/UTs may consider taking prompt and proactive action at a local level, as advised by MoHFW (Health Ministry) from time to time,” the notification said.
The Indian government had issued various guidelines and measures for the first time on March 24, 2020, under the Disaster Management Act to curb the COVID-19 situation in the country, which have been modified several times thereafter.
India currently has 23,087 active COVID-19 cases and recorded 1,778 new cases and 62 deaths in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate has also declined to 0.28%.
Shimla-A meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet was held on March 20, 2022, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The excise policy for the financial year 2022-23 was approved. Approval was also given for the renewal of retail excise vends in the state for the financial year 2022-23 at the renewal fees of 4% of the value of unit/vend.
The State Government said that wants to enhance the government revenue and curb the smuggling of country liquor from the neighbouring states by a reduction in its price.
The brands of Country Liquor will be cheaper as license fees have been reduced. This will help in providing good quality liquor at a cheaper rate to the consumers.
In the new excise policy, the 15% fixed quota of country liquor for manufacturers and bottlers to be supplied to the retail licensees has been abolished. According to the government, this step will give the retail licensees to lift their quota from the suppliers of their choice and further assure the supply of good quality country liquor at competitive prices. The MRP of country liquor will be cheaper by 16% of the existing price.
In this year’s policy, the Gaudhan Vikas Nidhi Fund has been enhanced by Re.1/- from the existing Rs.1.50 to Rs.2.50.
The fixed annual license fee of Bars has been rationalized by abolishing the area-specific slabs of license fee. Now throughout the State, there will be uniform license slabs based upon the room capacity in hotels.
Rates of the annual fixed license fee of Bars in the tribal areas has been reduced considerably.
Further, all the above stakeholders will have to install CCTV cameras at their establishments as it was made mandatory for them.
Wholesale vends and retail vends, the penalty provisions under the H.P. Excise Act, 2011 have been made more stringent.
An end to end online Excise Administration System would be established in Himachal Pradesh, the government said.
HP Government estimates a collection of Rs 2131 crore revenue during the year, which will be Rs. 264 crores higher than the financial year 2021-22 – growth of 14% in state excise revenues.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to amend Himachal Pradesh Disaster Relief Manual-2012 to include deaths due to biting of honey bees, hornet and wasps, accidental drowning and deaths due to accidents of vehicles (including land, water and air) under this Manual.
The Cabinet gave its approval for filling up 11 posts of ‘A’ Class Tehsildar in Revenue Department through direct recruitment on regular basis through Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.
HP State Toll Policy 2022-23
The HP Cabinet also gave its nod to HP State Toll Policy for the year 2022-23 which envisages auction cum tender for all the toll barriers in the State. During the year 2021-22, toll revenue has registered a growth of 20 percent of the previous year’s revenue.
A young leader’s activism combined with the concept of ‘Himachaliyat’ and ‘Virbhadra Singh Vikas Model’ may be a gamechanger for the Congress in Himachal
Paradox in Hatti Community’s Demand for Tribal Status
HP Govt Employees to Get Higher Pay Scale on Completion of Two Years of Service: CM Jairam
Most Covid Restrictions to be Lifted From March 31, Mask and Hand Hygiene to Continue
Home Decor Ideas 2020
