Maya Bhatta, former Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment of the Sudurpaschim Province, has been earning Rs. 300,000 annually from bee keeping.
Bhatta, who is a member of the Provincial Assembly from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist), has been making the earnings from the bees kept in her own house in Dasharathchanda Municipality-5 in Baitadi.
She is one of the first members of the CPN-UML in Baitadi and is a member of Provincial Assembly and Joint In-charge of CPN (Unified Socialist) for Sudurpaschim Province.
Bhatta has been in politics for the last four decades and has been involved in beekeeping since 1994. “Political leaders and cadres should also be connected to production along with the politics,” she said.
According to her, politics must be inspiring people to connect with the production.
“I was the only woman carrying the Communist Party flag in the Peoples’ Movement in 1990. While expanding the party organisation in the villages, it would have been difficult for the communists to get accommodation during those days,” said Bhatta.
“There was class discrimination in the village which has not been removed even now. Conscious people should do politics for social transformation. I have started beekeeping to link politics to the production,” she added.
She had to undergo many troubles and challenges while moving ahead with the politics in an effort to transform the society. Beekeeping has been the source of income for the household expenditures since she started it.
She had helped 400 farmers in her ward to engage in beekeeping since she became the minister of the provincial government. Farmers’ cooperatives in her ward sells honey worth Rs. 3.5 million every year.
Basudev Bhatt, a local farmer, said that beekeepers of Dasharathchanda Municipality-5 had received assistance of Rs. 3.5 million after she became the minister.
Leading farmer Basudev said, “After Maya Bhatta became the minister, the beekeepers got a good plan. At present, we have formed cooperatives and engaged in collective beekeeping.”
Bhatta said that it is the religion of the communist leader to teach the common farmers to become self-reliant by linking them with production along with other development works.
Communist Party leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal, KP Sharma Oli and many others have tasted honey while staying at her house, Bhatta recalled.
“The hardest thing in the world is to become a communist. The life style of a communist should be in tune with the people,” said Bhatta. “The proletariats could not be liberated due to the recent bourgeoisie tendency in the communist movement in Nepal.”
Source : TRN,
