Jadav "Molai" Payeng (born 31 October 1959) is an

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

activist and forestry worker from

Majuli Mājuli or Majuli () is a river island in the Brahmaputra River, Assam and in 2016 it became the first island to be made a district in India. It had an area of at the beginning of the 20th century, but having lost significantly to erosion it c ...

, popularly known as the ''Forest Man of India''. Over the course of several decades, he has planted and tended trees on a

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body o ...

of the river

Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...

turning it into a forest reserve. The forest, called Molai forest after him, is located near Kokilamukh of

Jorhat Jorhat ( ) is one of the important cities and a growing urban centre in the state of Assam in India. Etymology Jorhat ("jor" means twin and "hat" means market) means two hats or mandis - "Masorhaat" and "Sowkihat" which existed on the opposite ...

, Assam, India and encompasses an area of about 1,360 acres / 550

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ab ...

. In 2015, he was honoured with

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

, the fourth highest civilian award in India. He was born in the indigenous Mising tribe of Assam.

Career

In 1979, Payeng, then 19, encountered a large number of snakes that had died due to excessive heat after floods washed them onto the tree-less sandbar. That is when he planted around 20 bamboo seedlings on the sandbar. 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. The forest, which came to be known as Molai forest, now houses

Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the ''Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The tiger is estimated to have been present in ...

Indian rhinoceros } The Indian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros unicornis''), also called the Indian rhino, greater one-horned rhinoceros or great Indian rhinoceros, is a rhinoceros species native to the Indian subcontinent. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red Li ...

, and over 100 deer and rabbits. Molai forest is also home to monkeys and several varieties of birds, including a large number of vultures. There are several thousand trees, including valcol, arjun (''

Terminalia arjuna ''Terminalia arjuna'' is a tree of the genus '' Terminalia''. It is commonly known as arjuna or arjun tree in English. Description ''T. arjuna'' grows to about 20–25 metres tall; usually has a buttressed trunk, and forms a wide canopy at the ...

''), ejar (''

Lagerstroemia speciosa ''Lagerstroemia speciosa'' (giant crepe-myrtle, Queen's crepe-myrtle, banabá plant, or pride of India) is a species of ''Lagerstroemia'' native to tropical southern Asia. It is a deciduous tree with bright pink to light purple flowers. Etymolo ...

''), goldmohur (''

Delonix regia ''Delonix regia'' is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae native to Madagascar. It is noted for its fern-like leaves and flamboyant display of orange-red flowers over summer. In many tropical par ...

''), koroi (''

Albizia procera ''Albizia procera'', commonly known as white siris or karoi tree, is a species of large tree found natively in southeast Asia and India. It is most commonly found in open forests, but may also be found on the margins of rain forests and in monsoo ...

''), moj ('' Archidendron bigeminum'') and himolu (''

Bombax ceiba ''Bombax ceiba'', like other trees of the genus ''Bombax'', is commonly known as cotton tree. More specifically, it is sometimes known as Malabar silk-cotton tree; red silk-cotton; red cotton tree; or ambiguously as silk-cotton or kapok, both of ...

''). Bamboo covers an area of over 300 hectares. A herd of around 100 elephants regularly visits the forest every year and generally stays for around six months. They have given birth to 10 calves in the forest in recent years. His efforts became known to the authorities in 2008, when forest department officials went to the area in search of 115 elephants that had retreated into the forest after damaging property in the village of Aruna Chapori, which is about 1.5 km from the forest. The officials were surprised to see such a large and dense forest and since then the department has regularly visited the site. In 2013, poachers tried to kill the rhinos staying in the forest but failed in their attempt due to Molai who alerted department officials. Officials promptly seized various articles used by the poachers to trap the animals. 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.

Personal life

Jadav Payeng belongs to the Mising tribe in Assam, India. He, along with wife and 3 children (1 daughter and 2 sons), used to live at the house which he had built inside his Forest. In 2012, Jadav built a house at No. 1 Mishing Gaon near Kokilmukh Ghat and shifted to this house with his family. Since then, they have been living in this house. Jadav, however, travels everyday to his Forest to tend and look after the plants and trees. He has cattle and buffalo on his farm and sells the milk for his livelihood, which is his only source of income. In an interview from 2012, he revealed that he has lost around 100 of his cows and buffaloes to the tigers in the forest, but blames the people who carry out large scale encroachment and destruction of forests as the root cause of the plight of wild animals.

Honours

Jadav Payeng was honoured at a public function arranged by the School of Environmental Sciences,

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

on 22 April 2012 for his achievement. He shared his experience of creating a forest in an interactive session, where

Magsaysay Award The Ramon Magsaysay Award (Filipino: ''Gawad Ramon Magsaysay'') is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealis ...

winner

Rajendra Singh Rajendra Singh (born 6 August 1959) is an Indian water conservationist and environmentalist from Alwar district, Rajasthan in India. Also known as "waterman of India", he won the Magsaysay Award in 2001 and Stockholm Water Prize in 2015. He ...

and JNU vice-chancellor Sudhir Kumar Sopory were present. Sopory named Jadav Payeng as the "Forest Man of India". In the month of October 2013, he was honoured at the

Indian Institute of Forest Management The Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), founded 1982, is an autonomous, Natural Resource Service training institute of Forestry located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, established by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climat ...

during their annual event Coalescence. In 2015, he was honoured with

, the fourth highest civilian award in India. He received honorary doctorate degree from

Assam Agricultural University Assam Agricultural University (AAU) is an agricultural education state university which was established on 1 April 1969 in Jorhat in the state of Assam, India. The jurisdiction of the university extends to the entire State of Assam with regard ...

and

Kaziranga University Kaziranga University (KU), officially established as The Assam Kaziranga University, is a private university located at Koraikhowa, on the outskirts of city Jorhat in Assam, India. It was established in 2012 through ''The Assam Kaziranga Univer ...

for his contributions.

In popular culture

Payeng has been the subject of a number of documentaries in the recent years . His character was the basis for a fictional film made by a Tamil director Prabhu solaman casting Rana Daggubati released in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi as Kaadan, Aranya and Hathi mera sathi. A locally made documentary film, produced by Jitu Kalita in 2012, '' The Molai Forest'', was screened at the

. Jitu Kalita, who lives near Payeng's house, has also been featured and given recognition for good reporting by projecting the life of Payeng through his documentary. The 2013 film documentary '' Foresting life'', directed by the Indian documentary filmmaker

Aarti Shrivastava Aarti Shrivastava (born 1983) is a national award-winning Indian documentary filmmaker and Asia 21 IPRYLI Fellow based in Mumbai. After graduating from Wilson College, Mumbai, she began a career as a news reporter working with CNBC. She subsequ ...

, celebrates the life and work of Jadav Payeng in the Molai forest. These are also the focus of William Douglas McMaster's 2013 film documentary '' Forest Man''. With US$8,327 pledged on its

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign, the film was brought to completion and taken to a number of film festivals. It was awarded the Best Documentary prize at the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase in the American Pavilion at the

2014 Cannes Film Festival The 67th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition section. The Palme d'Or was awarded to the Turkish film '' Winter Sleep'' directed by Nuri Bi ...

. Payeng is the subject of the children's book ''The Boy Who Grew A Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng'', written by Sophia Gholz and illustrated by Kayla Harren. Published by Sleeping Bear Press, the book won the

Crystal Kite Award The Crystal Kite Award''(also known as 'Crystal Kite Members Choice Award) is given by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) each year to recognize great books from the 70 SCBWI regions around the world. Along with the SCB ...

, the

Sigurd F. Olson Sigurd Ferdinand Olson (April 4, 1899 – January 13, 1982) was an American writer, environmentalist, and advocate for the protection of wilderness. For more than thirty years, he served as a wilderness guide in the lakes and forests of the Quet ...

Nature Writing Award (SONWA) from Northland College, and the Florida State Book Award. It has been translated into German and French, and adapted for stage. Jadav and the Tree Place

Payeng is also the subject of the children's book ''Jadav and the Tree-Place'', written and illustrated by Vinayak Varma. The book was published by the

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

children's publishing platform StoryWeaver, and its production was funded by a grant from the

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

Giving Initiative.

References

External links