Make a nest box for sparrows

The Plant and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) are trying their best to increase awareness about the declining number of sparrows. They had organised a competition with a sparrow-based theme for students to express their talent in poetry, story writing and drawing in Mulund on Sunday.

More than 1,500 children participated and there were 33 winners across categories. The Central School of Deaf, Agripada, won maximum prizes.

"Sparrows are declining due to rapid growth, modern architecture and increasing pollution. Even mobile tower radiation is harmful for them. Sparrows usually find food near local grocery shops but because of modernisation, malls have replaced the local shops and making life difficult for sparrows," says Sunish Subramaniam, founder of PAWS.

PAWS have come up with an interesting solution, to ensure that sparrows remain an important part of our ecosystem. "We have started distributing artificial nest box for sparrows with a bowl of grain. This helps them to build their nest and we can maintain the number of sparrows," adds Subramaniam. This message was passed on to the student during the event and everyone pledged to help maintain the number of sparrows.

"After this event, even I decided keep an artificial nest at home," says Mihir Meckoni, a parent of a participant.