Love affair of a Blood Cancer Patient with Sparrows

“I have been a patient of blood cancer since 2013 but I never stopped dreaming, making plans and finding ways to save birds. Always remember how important your life is; do not forget it, even for a second. ” – Narendra Singh Yadav, Former Officer, Blood Cancer Patient & Sparrow-Saver

Mr Narendra Singh with a sparrow chick

Humans have lived in close harmony with the adorable little birds, sparrows, for 10,000 years. Since then, humans and sparrows are living in integral life. There are many stories of love with these birds. But, I’m sharing here a completely differ and extraordinary story of love with sparrows. This is an inspirational story of a senior government officer of India. He is suffering from blood cancer and facing many kinds of physical problems coz of regular chemotherapy and medicines. But, he is a very positive personality and has dedicated his life to protect the sparrows ( Passer domesticus indicus) which are rarely seen in cities. He is Mr. Narendra Singh Yadav. He was posted as Divisional Joint Development Commissioner, in the government of Uttar Pradesh province, India; due to his continuous illness he has taken voluntary retirement.
He lives in Kanpur City with his wife Mrs Rashmi Singh and two young daughters, Prachi & Pragya. Whole family is dedicated to protecting sparrows. Apart from studying, his daughters are actively involved in maintaining the records of nests and chicks and preparing food for these chicks. His wife Mrs Rashmi looks after his mission and home both.

Family of Mr Narendra Singh take care of Sparrows.

He distributes special nests of sparrows, free of charge. His neighbour houses, colonies, societies and multistorey buildings have nests on the walls. He takes care of injured and sick birds. He is known to his friends as ‘Sparrow Man‘.

Mr Narendra Singh take care of injured sparrows and their chicks.

Since childhood he was a nature lover. Mr Narendra Singh has saved more than 150,000 chicks of sparrows & distributed about 6000 nests, since 2013. He was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2013. Since then, he used 10% of his salary for saving these birds and making nests for them.

Free distribution of sparrow nests by Mr Narendra Singh.

His family organizes dinner and distributes sweets when chicks come out of these nests, for the first time and also give them name as humans have. Names of some chicks who are living as complete sparrows are- Pawan, Saurabh, Mayank, Dulari, Vineeta, Arjun, Rohit, Reena, Darsh, Avantika, Rohan, Rajat, Priya, Krishna, Priyanka etc. He was inspired by late CL Khanna who was working for the conservation of Sparrows for many years; he was a big name in the field of conservation of Sparrows in Kanpur.
During his service, he tried to maintain a green habitat fit for Sparrows, in his office, work field, residential colony and native villages. He is also working for biodiversity conservation and created the micro-forests of a total 30 acres area in his parental villages Palia and Aasatmuddinpur of Bangermau tehsil of district Unnao (Uttar Pradesh province, India). In these forests there are more than 3000 plants of medicinal and mythological importance.
He organises anti-deforestation Red Tape Movement in his native villages, regularly. There he aware the villagers about the importance of trees, birds, biodiversity, wetlands, rivers, water conservation, sanitation, health, Climate Change and Global Warming.
He is working on sparrow conservation through Santulan Society, an NGO based in Indira Nagar, Kanpur. This NGO is a self funded non-profit-making organisation. Due to his great efforts, his mission to save sparrow has now been spread in many districts of Uttar Pradesh like- Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kannauj, Kanpur Nagar, Farrukabad, Unnao, Hardoi, Lucknow, Kasganj, Mathura, Agra etc.
According to Mr Narendra Singh, in our busy lives, we have lost the bond with sparrows. The sparrows have been on the decline over much of its natural range, both in the urban and rural areas. Loss of habitat due to anthropogenic activities is the main cause of their rare appearance. The decline of the house sparrow is an indicator of the continuous degradation of the environment and is a warning about detrimental anthropogenic effects on biodiversity. Microwave pollution and concrete jungles are major challenges before Sparrows. The conservation of Sparrows will also help to save much of the common biodiversity, which shares the habitat of the sparrows.

I am talking about Sparrow conservation and related issues with Mr Narendra Singh.

His dream is to distribute more than 12000 nests and to save the lives of more than 300,000 sparrows chicks. We should Salute to such a great Green Soldier who is working for nature, with selflessness. He is truly an amazing Saint.

The disappearance of sparrows has been widely reported in India. The sparrow population in Andhra Pradesh area alone had dropped by 80%, and in other states like Kerala, Gujarat and Rajasthan, it had dipped by 20%, while the decline in coastal areas was as sharp as 70 to 80%. Urbanisation and Industrialisation will make the situation worst for the sparrows.
Mr Narendra Singh’s contribution is a complete story for this year’s World Sparrow Day. He is not only helping in conserving sparrows but is also spreading love for sparrows, awareness about their importance in our lives and tips on their conservation. Looking at him, I hope others will also be inspired and join the conservation movement to save sparrows and biodiversity by doing little things at grassroot level.

Note: This great story was originally published by me at ‘Youth Ki Awaaz‘.

Climate Neutrality By 2050

“There is no hint that help will come (on Earth) from elsewhere to save us from ourselves,” Carl Sagan in his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot.
We are living in the 21st century, the century of climate change, and doing nothing near to limit climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions are rising when they should be falling.

U.N.’s Emissions Gap Report 2019 says that global greenhouse emissions would need to fall by 7.6% every year between now and 2030 to stop severe climate crisis in the coming decades.

Countries need to take urgent climate action or should be ready to face a dark future with rising seas, extreme weather events and increased human misery.

Climate Neutrality, a climate action, is essential to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, by the mid-21st century,a target laid down in the Paris agreement signed by 195 countries.

What Is Climate Neutrality

Carbon neutrality refers to achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions by balancing carbon emissions with carbon removal or simply eliminating carbon emissions altogether. It is used in the context of ‘carbon dioxide releasing’ processes associated with transportation, energy production, agriculture, and industrial processes. The concept may be extended to include other greenhouse gases (GHGs), in terms of their ‘carbon dioxide equivalence’.

‘Climate Neutral’ was the New Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2006, which reflects the broader inclusiveness of other greenhouse gases in climate change, even if CO2 is the most abundant.

Achieving ‘Carbon Neutrality’ is very important for all of us coz it will help to make an eco-friendly and sustainable future. Watch this important video.

Steps to achieve Carbon Neutrality, globally

Climate neutrality can be achieved if ‘climate change’ encouraging ‘greenhouse gases’ are completely avoided or saved elsewhere. You may calculate and offset your CO2 emissions here.

According to UN Environment, the Carbon dioxide emissions account for 82 per cent of global warming & the rest coming mainly from much potent methane and nitrous oxide.

Globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) reached 410 parts per million (ppm) in 2019, up from 400.1 ppm in 2015. Methane and nitrous oxide concentrations also rose, along with a ozone depleting CFC-11.

According to UN Environment, the Climate Neutrality can be achieved by addressing the climate footprint of a individual, organisation, sector, household, institution, industry or a nation through the 3-step method:

1- Measure the carbon footprint (greenhouse gas emissions).

2-Reduce the emissions as much as possible through climate actions like consumption of renewable electricity (wind, solar, hydro, solar thermal, etc.), improving energy efficiency of processes, technological innovation in low carbon, plantation, agricultural measures etc.

3- Compensate those which cannot be currently avoided by using UN certified emission reductions (CERs), a type of carbon credit. CERs are carbon credits generated by UN supported climate-friendly projects.

By buying credits to compensate one’s unavoidable emissions, one can:

1-Rewards these projects located in developing countries and encourages the development of new ones;

2-Helps bring sustainable development benefits to communities, such as improved air and water quality, improved income, improved health, reduced energy consumption and much more;

3-Contributes to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Please, watch this important video to understand the role played by ‘Carbon Credits‘.

What we can do?

At grassroot, every individual, household, society, organisation, institution should take responsibility for the carbon emissions that we cannot currently avoid. Try to reduce carbon emissions at emission stage as much as possible, and keep ‘continuously’ to reduce them along with compensate those that we are not been able to eliminate. Watch this important video.

Reduce Your ‘Carbon Footprint’.

Our every action is important because every action has a ‘carbon footprint’ which we will have to reduce for a better Earth and life on this beautiful planet. At present Earth is under severe pressure of GHGs; one tonne of carbon is equivalent to 3.67 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), which means this would be equivalent to about eight years of global emissions at current rates. So, ‘Climate Neutral’ society should be our aim. Regulating carbon emissions down to net zero emissions by 2050 will help to end the global climate crisis.

Note: This story was originally published at Youth Ki Awaaz.In Hindustan Times at A ‘Carbon Neutral’ society should be our objective, Lucknow edition, 17 February 2020 in XPRESSIONS