The modern face of India

A role for beekeeping in the modernising of India is noted in The Times:

For women in the poor, remote rural areas, life without an education means marriage and children at the onset of puberty. Anita Kumari, a beekeeper from a small village in the backward state of Bihar, was forced into a marriage at the age of 15. Unlike her peers, she refused to give up her studies or her employment in what was considered locally to be a man’s job.

Now aged 17, she owns more than a hundred hives, manufactures her own honey under the brand Anita, attends college, rides a motorcycle and tutors her mother at night. “It was easy to work with the bees and continue my studies because, unlike other professions, bee keeping doesn’t require much of my time,” she said.