NORTH LAKHIMPUR, March 20 - With the world celebrating World Sparrow Day today, an unknown village in Lakhimpur has become a great partner in preserving and protecting the lovely and the common house sparrow, one of the most ubiquitous birds on earth and also one of the oldest companions of human beings. The entire village is in love with this tiny bird.
Borbali Chamuah, a village in Lakhimpur has been providing artificial nests for the house sparrow for last six years for which the bird, facing a steep decline, is surviving the scares of environmental degradation. The village which has more than ten dozen households has been contributing immensely for the preservation of this species with nets made from wooden, paper and cardboard boxes. Forty-seven-year-old Jayanta Neog, who runs a rice mill, is one of the leading conservators of the sparrow in this village. He has been in touch with every household to keep the artificial nests where the sparrows have been making their homes.
The house sparrow (Passer domesticus), is one of the most commonly found bird species in Assam's urban as well as rural areas. The bird is facing an uncertain future due to its fast decline and experts fear that the disappearance of the bird would mean a bleak future for agriculture. The sparrows play a crucial part in controlling harmful insects and pests for agriculture.
The children in Borbali Chamuah are also playing an important role in conserving the sparrows. They are sensitised at an early age by villagers like Jayanta Neog. They often attend awareness meetings and have workshops in their school and have learned the importance of conservation of nature around them. Like this year's theme of the day-the children are in love with the sparrows.
Prabal Saikia, the chief scientist at the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Assam Agricultural University at North Lakhimpur has been closely associated with this conservation programme for the sparrows in Borbali Chamuah village. Saikia has also been providing low cost sparrow nest-boxes to the village. The predator-proof nest boxes are made of cardboard and it costs around Rs 10 to make one. In the past decade, Saikia has distributed over 20,000 boxes for free in villages across Assam.
According to experts, factors leading to the decline of sparrows are rapidly changing cities that are inhabitable for the bird species, modern infrastructure that does not account for space for the sparrow to nest, and the sharp rise in pollution levels, caused by mobile phone towers and pesticides.
The World Sparrow Day, has been celebrated since 2010, aimed at spreading awareness about the house sparrow. Several efforts in cities across the country are under way to find out why the population of house sparrows has diminished and what measures can be taken to protect the bird species from extinction. The big corporate houses that run mobile phone services have a role to play in protecting the sparrows. They should initiate CSR projects for conservation and protection of species like the sparrows. They should also go for safe technologies so that no harmful radiation takes place.
