House sparrow declared Delhi's state bird

New Delhi: The humble House Sparrow was on Tuesday declared as 'state bird' of Delhi by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Expressing concern over dwindling number of house sparrows in the city, Ms Dikshit hoped that the new status of the bird would help in its conservation.

The Chief Minister, known for her environment-friendly initiatives, announced the decision after launching a campaign "Rise for the Sparrows" aimed at conserving the species.

In her address, Ms Dikshit said her Government will consider incorporate monitoring of the common bird in the school curriculum to make aware the students about conservation of House Sparrow and other birds.

"This decision will go a long in raising awareness and attention on the house sparrow," said Mohammed Dilawar of Nature Forever Society which has been spearheading a campaign to protect the bird.

Ms Dikshit urged the citizens to register on www.cbmi.in to monitor the sparrows and other common birds in and around their homes, offices and schools.

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She also called on corporates, NGOs and educational institutions to become official conservation partners. "Rise for the Sparrows" is a project aimed at empowering and inspiring citizens, corporates and educational institutions to actively get involved in sparrow conservation, monitoring and creating awareness with regard to the conservation of house sparrows and other common birds of India, said Mr Dilawar.

The project seeks to reach out to people across the Indian subcontinent and aims to empower them with simple solutions which will not involve a lot of time and resources but at the same time will have a significant impact on sparrow conservation of India.

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The resources created will be useful to teachers, parents, students, organisations, policy makers, NGOs and citizens who are not professional researchers and anyone who is interested in conservation of house sparrows and common birds, said Mr Dilawar.