Let’s go through the journey of Jadav Payeng, a farmer and milkman—how he turned a barren wasteland into a dense forest and became The Forest Man of India.
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The “Forest Man,” Jadav Payeng, is a forestry worker and naturalist from Majuli, Assam. His efforts to plant and preserve trees have had a major positive impact on the environment.
He was the only one who could turn a barren wasteland into a 1,360-acre forest. His sole source of income comes from selling the milk from the buffalo and cattle he raises on his farm.
Image Credit: Jadav Payeng: The forest man of India
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Jadav Molai Payeng has saved his land from drought, erosion and deforestation. A lush green forest formed by planting a tree everyday now provides habitat to millions of flora and fauna and contribute to the sustainability of ecosystem. Every single person can find actual inspiration in Jadav Payeng.
The Molai Forest
Located close to Kokilamukh in Jorhat, Assam, India, the dense forest known by his nickname, Molai, today spans more than 1,300 acres. Jadav claims to be planting 5,000 additional acres on the island with the intention of extending the vegetation over a 500-mile stretch of the desolate islands and sandbars of the Brahmaputra.
He believes he has set up a model of what a human being can do in terms of protecting the environment. Bengal tigers, Indian rhinoceroses, and more than a hundred deer and rabbits now live in the jungle. Additionally, a variety of birds and monkeys can be seen in the Molai forest.
Jadav Payeng stands alone against all the island villagers who complain the herd of elephants tramples their fields and destroys their homes. When being suggested to cut back the forest, he warns, “You will have to kill me first before you kill the trees.”
How Jadav Payeng began planting
Jadav lived on a sandbar where he saw the terrible aftermath of a flood. Many trees were washed away by the flood, leaving the sandbar exposed and desolate. When he observed dead snakes on the ground, presumably from drought, he wondered how similar human existence will be in the near future.
After seeing the devastation personally, Jadav Payeng made the decision to take action in an attempt to return the sandbar to its previous condition. He started off planting a few bamboo and cotton trees, and then he progressively increased the amount of trees he planted and cared for over time.
When the devastating flood that destroyed agriculture, greenery, and wildlife struck, he was 16 years old. The forest department was notified, but they requested that he plant the trees himself. That’s what he did, then. On the banks of the Brahmaputra River, he found a riverside island and started planting the saplings.
He did not ask for permission to establish a forest. He simply continued the Mishing tribe’s custom of respecting the nature by growing tress.
Challenges he faced
For thirty years, Payeng came to the island and planted a few seedlings each day. It was by no means an easy task for him to wake up before sunrise and paddle across a river nearly every day for about 40 years in order nourish nature.
Watering such a large area proved to be another challenge so he constructed a bamboo platform atop each sapling and positioned earthen pots with tiny holes in them, the plants below would receive weekly watering from the water that would progressively trickle down.
When asked about his challenges, he replies in gratitude that “It’s not as if I did it alone. You plant one or two trees, and they have to seed. And once they seed,” he adds reverentially, “the wind knows how to plant them, the birds here know how to sow them, cows know, elephants know, even the Brahmaputra river knows. The entire ecosystem knows.”
Records and Documentaries
Jadav Payeng has left quite a significant impact on the Indian population and several directors have tried to use their medium to highlight his journey. A locally made documentary film, produced by Jitu Kalita in 2012, “The Molai Forest” was screened at the JNU.
The 2013 film documentary Foresting life, directed by filmmaker Aarti Shrivastava, celebrates the life of Jadav Payeng in the Molai forest. These are also the focus of William Douglas’s 2013 film documentary Forest Man. The fictional film ‘Hathi mera sathi (2018)’ made by a Tamil director Prabhu solomon was based on his character.
Payeng is the subject of the 2019 children’s book The Boy Who Grew A Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng, written by Sophia Gholz and the 2016 children’s book Jadav and the Tree-Place, written and illustrated by Vinayak Varma.
Awards and Honours
At an event hosted by Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of Environmental Sciences, Jadav Payeng received recognition. The vice-chancellor of JNU referred to him as the “Forest man of India” during the event.
In 2015, he received Padma Shri award from President Pranab Mukherjee. In recognition of his achievements, he was also awarded honorary doctorates by Kaziranga University and Assam Agricultural University.
Rimjim Bora is a passionate researcher, writer, and storyteller. Being an Assamese, she feels the pride and enthusiasm for writing blogs and stories promoting Assam, Assamese culture, food, and lifestyle. Contact Rimjim at rimjim@diversityassam.com.
