BeekeepingTimes.com

Chennai, November 15, 2011: We learnt with great shock and sorrow the sudden demise of Dr. Arun Dandekar, Chairman, Board of Management, All India Beekeepers Association at Pune.

Chennai, October 27, 2011: A 10-member Expert Panel, constituted in August 2010 by the Government of India's Ministry of Environment and Forests, to go into the issue of the effect of radiations from communication towers on wildlife, including birds and bees in the country, has just brought out a Report¹ of their study and findings. The Report  elicited media news saying that cell towers are killing sparrows and honey bees (see, for example, this news).

Pune, August 18, 2011: Beekeeping with Apis mellifera is now popular in several regions in India, including Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Management of mellifera bee colonies involves their migration to locations with rich forage potential. Though beekeepers are undertaking migration for production, there is a great scope to increase the efficiency and improve honey production. This can be facilitated with a knowledge of floral resources and evolving appropriate migration schedules for different beekeeping regions. K. Lakshmi Rao and K. Subba Rao, researchers at the Central Bee Research and Training Institute, Pune made a detailed study of the floral resources for A. mellifera in India and seasons for honey production in different regions. They suggest various migration schedules for different phytogeographic regions in the country in a paper presented at the State-level Seminar on 'Awareness, Motivation and Technology Transfer for Development of Beekeeping in Andhra Pradesh', held on January 8-9, 2011 at Jangareddygudem, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. Reproduced hereunder is the paper taken from the Souvenir issued on the occasion by the National Bee Board, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Chennai, June 23, 2011: Following the publication of the report of the Centre for Science and Environment on the presence of chemical residues in branded honeys (see news dated October 2, 2010 in this site), the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India (FSSAI) issued an advisory on September 24, 2010 clarifying that safety standards in India particularly with reference to antibiotics in honey are similar to those in the European Union, Codex Alimentarius (of the Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations) and the USA, and the residues are completely prohibited as per the existing Indian Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act.