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Wildlife

My sparrow is gone!
By Aqsa Anjum

She flapped her wings and she used to sing. Today, the birds have gone and there's no one to sing a song.

Feeding bread crumbs and leftover rice was a daily routine for Najma, a house wife from Old Delhi. It was true eight years ago but that is not the case anymore. Najma has moved out from her old dilapidated house to a flat in Daryaganj in central Delhi. “Our houses use to be spacious which could not only accommodate our family members but birds as well.  They were a family. We had open spaces wherein birds use to make nests but in flats there is no open space.  I don’t see any sparrow or pigeon flying around in my flat .I feel isolated here.”

The populations of sparrows have declined in Delhi this is one of the reasons that Delhi govt. has declared sparrow as its state bird. Environmentalist Y.K Jatin, from Assist Education and Health Welfare for Weaker Organization, states many reason for the decrease in counting of sparrows in Delhi .“Delhi use to be a green and spacious city but with privatization and chopping down of many trees, which were also the abode of these birds, the numbers of sparrows have gone down. Besides that Delhi is turning into a concrete jungle with less of trees and more of buildings.
25 year old Rehana also cherishes her childhood days.  “I still remember as a kid I use to feed sparrows who use to hover on our terrace but now there are no sparrows.” Rehana lives at a place which gives a wide view of Jama Masjid .“My brother installed airtel connection towers on the terrace some years bac. Earlier there used to be sparrow’s nest on our terrace but now I don't see any sparrow. Y.K Jatin also blames these electromagnetic radiation sending towers for the birds extinction as radiations coming from them are harmful.

Delhi government has declared sparrows as its state bird but will it be helpful in the decline of their disappearance? "If the Delhi government is serious about saving the birds, it must move beyond the awareness campaigns it is planning and try to figure out the changes responsible for their extinction and work on that .” Jatin says that the whole blame cannot be put on the government’s shoulder. As conscious Delhi citizens, people should also come forward and provide a helping hand to prevent their extinction.