THE FOREST MAN OF INDIA: JADAV PAYENG

                           THE   FOREST  MAN 
                              JADAV PAYENG

 " KNOWING IS NOT ENOUGH, WE MUST APPLY,
      WILLING IS NOT ENOUGH, WE MUST DO"   
 

 AND JADAV  MOLAI PAYENG, proves it right as since 1979 ,he single handedly  planted a forest in the barren sandbar of the river BRAHMPUTRA and this forest is spread over in 550 hectares which is greater than the NYC national park(341 hectares).The name of the forest is MOLAI which is given on the name of JADAV PAYENG.For such a great  work he is honoured in 2015 with the PADMA SHRI award which is the India's fourth highest civilian award.
 

 PERSONAL LIFE 
 

JADAV PAYENG  he was born in1963 in ASSAM,INDIA.His other name is MOLAI and his occupation is Forester.He belongs to a 'mishing tribe' which is mainly found in ASSAM region.He lives in a small hut in the forest molai with is wife (Binita Payeng) and has three children.He has cattle and buffalo on his farm and sells the milk for his livelihood, which is his only source of income.

LIFE HISTORY
 

As JADAV  says'  when he was at the age of sixteen he encountered with an incident, he saw that a hundreds of snakes had died due to the heat of the treeless sandbar,to which they are carried due to the flood.This instance shaked him and then he planted some bamboo seedlings on the barren sandbar.
Also from 1916 to1960,the Masuli island,which is the largest river island,had lost half of its land.It means the island was going to disappear but  JADAV  committed to save such island and then he started working on the forest in 1979 when the social forestry division of Golaghat district launched a scheme of tree plantation on 200 hectares at Aruna Chapori situated at a distance of 5 km from Kokilamukh in Jorhat district. Molai was one of the labourers who worked in that project which was completed after five years. He chose to stay back after the completion of the project even after other workers left. He not only looked after the plants, but continued to plant more trees on his own, in an effort to transform the area into a forest.
 

"when the trees grew big it became more difficult for me to protect them.The biggest threat was from men.They would have destroyed the forest for economic profit and the animal would again vulnerable" JADAV says'
 

since the forest is dense so it became home for a lots of animals.In this forest many Bengal tigers,Indian Rhinoes,hundreds of deer and rabbits live here.About hundreds of Elephant visits regularly this forest and used to stay here for around three to five months a year.As JADAV says' after a long time around after 40 years a lots of vultures return to the area.There are  several thousands of trees including valcol, arjun,ejar,goldmohur,koroi,moj and himolu and bamboo covers about 300 hectares of the forest.
 

"All the species on the earth are animals including  human but only difference is that humans wear cloths.There are no monster in nature except for human.Human consumes everythings until there is nothing left.Nothing is safe from humans not even tigers or elephants."JADAV says'
 

His efforts came to known to the authorities in 2008 when some elephants harmed  properties in the nearby villages of the aruna chapori and when officers came there they amazed by seeing such a dense forest there.The article by JITU KALITA and the documentry on him also helped in his recognition.
when he was asked in an interview that "is Majuli can be saved?" he answered positively  and he also gave a lots of ideas in that reference too.But the irony is that non of his idea is till now implemented.
 

HONOURS
 

Jadav Payeng was honoured at a public function arranged by the School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University on 22 April 2012 for his remarkable achievement.JNU vice-chancellor Sudhir Kumar Sopory named Jadav Payeng as " The Forest Man of India:JADAV PAYENG". President APJ Abdul Kalam felicitated him with a cash award in Mumbai. He was among the 900 experts who gathered at the seventh global conference of the International Forum for Sustainable Development at Evian in France. Sanctuary Asia bestowed on him the Wildlife Service Award. In the month of October 2013, he was honoured at Indian Institute of Forest Management during their annual event Coalescence.  In 2015, he was honoured with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India.
Molai is ready to manage the forest in a better way and to go to other places of the state to start a similar venture. Now his aim is to spread his forest to another sand bar inside of Brahmaputra.
 

By such a strong determination and struggle he succeeded in his willings .Thus, JADAV changed the scenario of thinking that "a single person cannot bring the  change" and due to his strong  personality and such a remarkable achivement a documentry FOREST MAN was filmed on him by  William Douglas McMaster in 2013 and  It was awarded the Best Documentary prize at the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase in the American Pavilion in the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.