by Jadav Payeng
Jadav “Molai” Payeng (born 1963) is an environmental activist and forestry worker from Majuli, popularly known as the Forest Man of India.
A single person grew a 1340 acre forest without the help of any organization and machinery? That too in the barren land! Everyone will say no, it is not possible! The same thing was also said by the Forest Department of India to Jadav Payeng of Assam.
Jadav lives in a village in Jorhat in Molai, Assam, from which the vast Brahmaputra River flows. Jadhav loved nature since childhood, he loved animals, animals and birds. When he was 14 years old, he noticed that the number of animal birds around his village is decreasing, when he asked for his elders, he said that this is happening due to the depletion of the forest. Then one day Jadav saw that many snakes died on a barren island of Brahmaputra river, because there was no tree on the island, hundreds of snakes could not save themselves! Jadav felt very sad to see this. He told the forest department that “grow some trees here! The creatures are dying here because of no trees!” .
But the forest department said that “This is barren land and nothing can grow here, yes if you want, you can see bamboo plants growing there!”
The forest department may have said this jokingly, but Jadav took it seriously.
Jadav’s Love for Nature
Jadav started by planting twenty bamboo saplings on a deserted island between the Brahmaputra river! Every morning for thirty years, he would wake up every morning and plant it on that island. Giving water to so many plants was not even a matter of Jadav’s bus, but he also took out an idea for this, he put a bamboo plate on top of each plant and put an earthen pot on it, which had fine holes. With this idea, new plants used to get water drop by drop for a week.
In the year 1980, when the forest department started the plantation project there, Jadav Payeng also joined him, and continued to work as a laborer. Five years later, when the project was over and all the other employees left, Jadav Payeng continued his work. He kept planting new plants and looked after the trees.
Some interesting facts about Jadav Payeng
- In this way, working for thirty years, Molai grew a forest of about 1340 acres (550 hectares), which is larger than Central Park in New York.
- The name of this forest is named “Molai Forest” after him. Bengal tigers, Indian rhinos, sleeping reindeer, many species of monkeys, rabbits, birds of various kinds have made their home in this forest. So the herd of elephants also keeps on coming into this forest.
- There are bamboo forests in about 300 acres and in the rest of the place there are trees like Valkol, Arjun, Ajar, Gulmohar, Koroi, Moj, etc.
- Jadav Payeng lives in a cottage with his wife and three children in this forest and lives by selling cows milk.
- Jadav Payeng was awarded by Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2012 for this unique achievement, in 2013, he was awarded by the Indian Institute and Forest Management.
- In 2015, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s highest civilian honor.
Friends, when it comes to the success story, we often hear about people who despite being born in poverty have struggled to earn the wealth of Arbo rupees like Steve Jobs, Ambani etc.
But actually earning a lot of money is a form of success, it is also a form of success, which Jadav Payang has achieved. Think! How many tons of pure oxygen has been generated by the forest they have grown in these thirty years, and how much oxygen will these forests provide in future. If the price of this huge quantity of oxygen is known, then maybe it is also equal to the property of Apple or Reliance Company.
