New Delhi, June 25 -- Pollinators such as bees and other insects are very important for maintaining a balance in natural systems. They are also essential for maintaining human food security as they offer ecosystem services like pollination, which helps humans grow their food.

"Insects and other terrestrial arthropods-such as bees, butterflies, beetles, and the like-are so essential to ecosystems that if they were to vanish entirely, humanity might not survive for more than a few months," American biologist E O Wilson had written in his book The Diversity of Life.

Something to that effect is happening now.

Like many countries, India is in the middle of a 'pollinator crisis'. Many pollinator populations are dying out, primarily due to th...