25-year-old Aliasgar Vohra is not only research scholar in Department of Zoology, MS University of Baroda, he is also a sparrow activist.
On the celebration of this Republic Day, Aliasgar, along with his wife, Rukaiya Vohra distributed cardboard boxes and feeder plates for sparrows in Vadodara’s biggest senior living community at Nimeta, Vadodara.
This is not the first time Vohra is passionately helping save sparrows from urban extinction in Baroda. Vohra has been distributing housing nests and feeder plates in Vadodara for sparrows since 2013.
Aliasgar has had a long-standing love affair with them since he was 18. When he was on holiday in a different city, he noticed that there were sparrows in that city, but the sparrow population has been dwindling in Vadodara. Since then, Aliasgar has been passionately trying to find a solution to the dwindling sparrow population.
“The reason behind the dwindling sparrow population might be urbanization and different patterns of construction than before in Vadodara among other factors. “Sparrows are important for the urban ecosystem because they eat a lot of insects and hence protect against unnecessary diseases caused by insects like mosquitoes,” says Aliasgar. “They also help in pollination in many plants hence help in increasing the amount of greenery around us.”
Aliasgar helps further his cause by spending at least 10% of his stipend on the welfare of sparrows every month. And this is a promise he intends to keep life long. This is something that her wife doesn’t challenge. Aliasgar tells us, “I’m lucky enough to find a life partner that is super supportive and also helps me with my work. I’m going to try and expand awareness for sparrows throughout Gujarat when I get funding.”
