D. Ganesan, a professor at SRM Institute of Technology in Chennai has an army of sparrow champions who have helped to create birdhouses for sparrows in the city. Many school children are also part of this team. Ganesan, who was born to a farmer couple, realised the value of birds and animals at a young age. He was introduced to a nest box priced at Rs 100. He purchased many boxes and toured houses in his local area of Royapuram and distributed the boxes, requesting people to place them on their roofs and monitor them. He conducted awareness drives about sparrows and even took the help of delivery boys and grocery stores to spread the idea.
However, it did not get the desired results, so Ganesan bought raw materials and made about 500 birdhouses. He teamed up with school children and conducted workshops to teach people how to make birdhouses. The children helped him to make the birdhouses and also helped to distribute them among the locals. This initiative has helped to bring back sparrows to the localities. So far, he has helped to install 1,250 birdhouses out of which 950 are occupied by birds. By March 20, 2022, he hopes to distribute over 10,000 birdhouses across the city of Chennai. March 20 is observed as World Sparrow Day.
