VANISHING SPARROWS

- Ajay Singh
Development Journalism : Delhi and Bihar governments have declared house sparrows as their ” state birds “.
It is in order to highlight the constantly dwindling number of these birds who were found in abundance only a few years ago.

Having spent most of my time in Bihar,Jharkand and Delhi I find it hard to digest the fact that sparrows are getting pushed to a stage to getting extinct.Before my relocation to Sultanate of Oman in mid-2006 I could see several flocks of these small birds in Bihar,Jharkhand and Delhi.

Since my arrival back to Delhi early May, 2013 till date I had the first sightings of sparrows only after 50 days of stay. I noticed a pair each of male and female at Dwarka metro station, Sector 13 and another in a DDA society flats in sector 18.In total I had the chance to see only four sparrows in a span of almost 50 days.A few years ago it was very easy to sight several hundreds.

Increasing urbanisation and mobile towers have triggered off the decrease in their population.Where are we heading to ? Some years ago the vultures vanished from our eco-system leaving a huge gap in our surroundings.Now the sparrows are heading in the same direction. If all the other species keep vanishing from nature one by one humans will also not survive.Let us get our acts together and work on a revival and restoration of nature.Let’s care for
animals,birds,reptiles,trees,bees,butterflies and all that nature has created.Let us try not to disturb nature’s balance.

Also watch your investments.Do not invest only is houses,shops and other forms of concrete.Invest in agriculture, plantations, diary farms, bee-farming,tree plantations, etc. By doing we will be helping longer survival of mankind.

Ajay Singh