“Honey, I love you!”  

Does honey symbolize love? Do bees personalize briskness? It doesn’t look so from the treatment meted out to bees. Honey also plays a major role in medicine. But we do not want honey bees in our proximity. If honey bees can talk, they will say, ‘We have not come to your place, you have encroached on our place’. But it does not bear any logic or rhyme with the common man. ‘I cannot live here, my children are in danger, I cannot open the balcony,’ says an annoyed Rupa a flat owner on the 15th floor of an apartment in Bangalore. She has gone to the extent of suing the Apartment Management if they do not kill or drive away the bees immediately.

The supporting voice is loud. Many joined her in making the protest as strong as possible. Mr. Kumar also quoted a recent happening to substantiate the ‘menace’. In a recent incident, 50 people including 20 women and a girl child were attacked in Chennimalai when they assembled at a temple for a marriage function. Heavy smoke from the marriage hall (probably from the kitchen) engulfed a bee hive in a nearby tree, which made the swarm attack the marriage crowd. All were hospitalized and are getting first aid. No causality was reported. But the fear in people’s minds is very high. Residential colonies often adopt to serious measures like smoking with chemicals and killing the bees to pacify the residents. But many residents complain that the bees again invade and therefore it is only a temporary solution. Alert conservation activists always fight with the management to save bees as they pretty well know that killing bees would cut the important link in the food chain, as bees are said to occupy a major share of pollinators, while butterflies, wasps, beetles, and birds also pollinate. Interestingly the bees are treated as vermin and the pesticide manufacturers give treatment solutions. However, as per one study, human life may also come to a standstill when the bees are eliminated. This is because 80% of pollinations are suggested to be done by bees. If pollination does not take place, we may not get fruits or any agricultural produce. When such an important link in the food chain is neglected by law there is no protection for honey bees in any of the schedules of Wildlife Act. Of all the bees, rock bees (Apis dorsata)are giant bees found all over India in sub-mountainous regions up to an altitude of 2700 m. They construct single comb in open about 6 feet long and 3 feet deep. They shift the place of the colony often. Rock bees are ferocious and difficult to rear, though they produce about 36 Kg of honey per comb per year. Beekeeping is a recognized activity that can be taken up to address the persisting problem. It is lucrative also while it can address the bee sting problem. If properly managed, bees can be a potential wealth generator besides being pollinators.

No honey bees, no life on earth! And… honey can create wealth too!