Himachali Boy Hits Big Screen
There is no dearth of talented personalities in Himachal in almost all the fields. Many great personalities of the likes of Mohit Chauhan, Anupam Kher, Preity Zinta and many more in the list have brought laurels to the state by establishing themselves in the entertainment industry. Soon another boy from Solan, Manuj Walia will join this list. He is soon going to appear on the big screen with his upcoming movie ‘Swami Paramhans’. A resident of Solan, Manuj had started his acting career four years back with a TV serial ‘Yogesh Sarkar’. Though this serial was not a big success but Manuj gained enough publicity and praise from different directors for his acting. He then continued to get work in the short movies, TV serials and advertisements. After his first TV serial, he got another TV serial named ‘Mr. and Mrs. Tendulkar’ in which he played short but effective characters in its many episodes. He worked in another TV serial after that named as ‘Bajrang Bali’. Recently he has been seen in the famous Sony channel’s serial Maharana Pratap as a role of Rana Devi Singh who was a close friend to Maharana Pratap. He played many roles in many episodes of Life Ok’s TV show ‘Sawadhan India’, which also helped him to get some more recognition in the acting field. Apart from his acting in TV serials he had also worked in many popular advertisements. Recently, he moved to the big screen and completed the shooting of his upcoming movie ‘Swami Paramhans’, in which he is playing the lead role. This film will soon be released in the country. While talking to Himachal This Week, Manuj told Prem Rajput is directing this movie and he is the lead actor of the movie. He is playing the role of ‘Swami Paramhans’ in the movie. “This will prove a turning point of my acting career as I have waited for a long to get a role in a bollywood movie, although this is just a start, but I will prove myself in all shades,” said Manuj.
Hatwas: Creator of Beekeeping Business
Mukesh Mehra
The modern beekeeping business which is providing employment for so many people presently was first introduced in Kangra valley in 1936. The first ever Bee Research Station was established in Hatwas, a small village near Nagrota Bagwan. After that the beekeeping business started in many places of the state and the country. The 77-years old centre was introduced here by the Britishers. Interestingly, the first five beekeepers of the country including the present Housing and Urban Development Minister, Sudhir Sharma also belong to Himachal. In 1936, when the Bee Research Centre was established here, its first in-charge was Dr. Sardara Singh. In 1962 it was connected with Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana, and then with Himachal Pradesh University in 1975 and finally with CSKHP Agricultural University Palampur in 1978. At present Dr. Arun is the researcher in the Bee Research Centre at Hatwas. Only Apis cerana indica the Indian honeybee was reared in the state until the year 1961 when Apis mellifera from Italy was introduced in the State at Bee Research Station, Hatwas. Keeping in view the importance of beekeeping in fruit industry the scheme was transferred from Agriculture to Horticulture department at time of bifurcation of the Agriculture department during 1971. Prior to April, 1971 there were only 1250 bee colonies managed in modern bee hives in whole of Himachal. After the scheme was transferred to the Horticulture department in the year 1971, the progress in the field of beekeeping has increased manifolds.
Present Scenario
At present the department has 32 beekeeping demonstration apiaries at various suitable places in the state. The whole state is divided into two zones i.e. North and South zone. South zone has 17 demonstration apiaries whereas North zone has 15 demonstration apiaries. Over 90% of the bee colonies owned by the department and almost all the bee colonies managed by the private beekeepers. As a matter of fact Apis mellifera performance in the hill state has been so encouraging that at present nearly 1500 unemployed educated youths have taken to Apis mellifera beekeeping as full time profession and are maintaining nearly 80,000 bee colonies as against 4200 bee colonies in the year 1981-82. These bee colonies are capable of producing about 1600 M.T. of honey annually as against 3 M.T. during 1981-82. Importance of honey bees in pollination of fruits plants needs no emphases. It is an established fact that the value of increased fruit harvests as a result of honey bee pollination is 14 to 20 times more than the value of honey obtained directly from the bee colonies.The department helps the farmers by arranging bee colonies for pollination to the orchardists’ at nominal rent. According to the modest estimates about 2,00,000 bee colonies are needed for appropriate pollination for the bearing orchards in the state.
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