World Sparrow Day: A noble initiative by UP Govt

I had been to Uttar Pradesh last month and one thing that caught my attention while travelling were the small wooden huts built on trees. This was something unusual and added up to my curiosity. After researching online about the same, I found that it was  part of a well defined noble strategy by the Uttar Pradesh government which aims to revive and increase the sparrow population in the state.

Have you realized that the number of sparrows has dwindled to a great extent in the past few years? Many of us are not even aware of this fact but it is true that the sparrow population has been affected widely. Because of this reason, the state of Uttar Pradesh has marked 20th March as the World Sparrow Day. This day has been especially devoted to the sparrows where the people of the country will be made aware of the decreasing  population of sparrows and various measures would be undertaken so as to increase the population of sparrows.

This initiative by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav is really praiseworthy. An initiative that will create an awareness regarding the declining bird population is really amazing as well as shows a great concern towards the natural habitat and Mother Nature. Studies have found that three out of five species of sparrows are found in Uttar Pradesh itself. We must be aware that it is these sparrows which help in killing many insects that can bring harm to the crops. These sparrows maintain the biodiversity by killing the harmful insects.

According to Akhilesh Yadav, the message of decreasing bird population should reach each and every corner of the country so that everyone is aware of this situation. This year on 20th March 2016, World Sparrow Day was celebrated at Janeshwar Mishra Park, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow. Let us see a few highlights of the World Sparrow Day:

• A function had been organized on this day to spread the message of sparrow conservation at the Janeshwar Mishra Park, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.
• A movie had been released on the theme of sparrows that would promote the message of conservation of sparrows.
• A photo exhibition on sparrows had also been held on the same day.
• Those people who have a great contribution towards the conservation of sparrows had been honored on this auspicious occasion and awarded the Gauriya Mitra Puraskar. This award is presented only to those who manage to conserve the highest number of sparrows in the state.
• Also on this special occasion, a book and a CD on sparrows had been released.
• Many sparrow nests had been distributed to children and school students so that the conservation of sparrows rises and the birds get a safe habitat to live in.
• Many officers have been given the role in monitoring the houses with sparrow nests so that they remain in a well-functioning condition.
• The state forest department will give out 1000 Sparrow boxes to each of the 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh.
• These nests have been designed scientifically and without any chemicals so that they can attract the sparrows. These houses are made of wood having a 3.2cm hole, large enough for a sparrow to enter and relatively smaller for any predator to intrude.

Also, several other programs and events would be scheduled in this year within the state so as to spread more awareness. People must realize the importance and the presence of sparrows in our environment. However, many of us fail to understand it and ultimately it results in the extinction of the species. Due to the rapid growth and development in our society, the bird population is decreasing as the trees are being cut down and hence they do not get proper homes to stay in. Nowadays sparrows are rarely found but just a few decades ago the population was quite high. It is just in these past few years that we have witnessed a heavy decline in the bird population.

Our country has witnessed a sharp decline in the sparrow population due to the emerging era of rapid urbanization, excessive use of insecticides and pesticides, all sorts of pollution, deforestation and many other negative factors. It is high time that we must give a thought on these little creatures otherwise a day will come when they will be counted on the list of extinct species. Being responsible citizens of our country, it is our duty to conserve these birds else the future generations will never know about sparrows. It is a really praiseworthy initiative of the UP Chief Minister who is so active in conserving the state natural habitat besides achieving sustainable development.


Article by Anisha Dutta
She is a content evangelist who believes that the Science of today is the Technology of tomorrow. 
She can be reached at https://twitter.com/Anisha_Dutta29