Exclusive stall for Jawadhu tribals’ honey on VIT campus

According to university vice president Sankar Viswanathan, “The university as part of its CSR (corporate social responsibility) chose to uplift the lives of tribal settlers by providing local children education, and increased marketing avenues for their parents involved in apiary activities.”

Elaborating on the plans, the university’s Centre for Science, Research and Development (CSRD) director, CR Sundara Rajan, said that working with nearly 200 families who are traditionally involved in beekeeping over the last seven years had resulted in nearly Rs 6 crore being released as loan through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Indian Bank. “A few days ago, 225 beneficiaries of local SHGs (self-help groups) were provided a loan of Rs 1crore,” he added.

Further, to ensure that the “marketing of their pure honey – much sought after, but not available except in a few locations – improved, the university taught them how to make 25 value-added honey products. The management has agreed to provide them a stall in the university’s cultural festival shortly so that more people, especially visitors from other states, are able to get a taste of their products,” Sankar said.

On the education front, the university has set up an office at Jamunamarudur with three staff members who teach the local children the basics of computing. “As the Forest department gave us a room in their residential school, we have set up 15 computers there which are used by nearly 300 students in batches,” Shankar Viswanathan said. “As their awareness increases, VIT plans to provide students of Classes 9 to 12 from various schools in the locality with a one-day awareness programme on various courses on February 20. VIT assistant vice president S Kadambari Viswanathan will be their guide,” he added.