Patna: Here is the success story of a poor girl from Bihar who has become a role model for thousands of poverty-stricken children in the country.
Anita Kushwaha adopted bee-keeping for a better living and was awarded by UNICEF for her success in the profession.
Recently, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) described her as a role model and included her saga in chapter five in a class IV text book on environmental studies 'Looking Around'.
Anita, the very girl from a backward family from remote Bochaha village in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, took up bee-keeping when she found that she could earn more from it with little investment.
Anita ventured bee keeping when she was ten after her mother Rekha Devi gave her Rs.3000. With this money she bought three queen bees and began running hives to make a profit of Rs.50,000 in the first year of her business.
With the hard earned money, she not only overcame her family's financial crunch, but also paid for her education till class ten. Now she is studying B.A. English (Hons.) from a women's college in her home town.
According to UNICEF sources, by introducing the concept of rearing honeybees for improving one's living condition, Anita ushered in a silent revolution in the rural areas of Muzaffarpur.
Anita's path breaking success has been highly praised by UNICEF for which she was declared the 'UNICEF girl' in 2006.