I was around 2007 that Mohammed Dilawar, a sparrow conservation activist, realised how difficult it was to find a native Indian plant species for his home in Nasik. Nurseries were selling foreign species in abundance, but native ones had just disappeared. Over the years, his massive sparrow conservation efforts had taught him that the deterioration of sparrows and plants went hand-in-hand.
Ten years since, Dilawar’s nursery, based in Nashik, is richer by 400 varieties of desi plants. This is all thanks to a systematic species recovery programme that he and his organisation, Nature India Nursery, have aggressively implemented in various parts of Maharashtra.
“We have created 25 city forests that cover a total area of more than 20,000 acres. The beauty of these plants is that all of them are indigenous alternatives to non-native ones. For example, we replaced Hamelia with Woodfordia Fruticosa (commonly known as the fire-flame bush), Cascabela Thevetia with Read more ➤