Amitav Ghosh in his book The Great Derangement writes, “no other word comes close to expressing the strangeness of what is unfolding around us. For those changes are not merely strange in the sense of being unknown or alien; their uncanniness lies precisely in the fact that in these encounters we recognise something we had turned away from, that is to say, “the presence and proximity of non-human interlocutors.” He uses the word ‘uncanny’ to describe the environmental degradation that has trapped us in ways, unpredicted. For most of our civilisation, we have focused all our energies to get the better out of everything that surrounds us, to do better than nature without ever stopping to realise our relationship with nature, which has been toxic in more ways then we can ever count would come back to haunt us in mysterious ways, miscellaneous shapes and forms. Even though late, nature has inducted itself into our thought, there’s a rage worldwide to analyse our association with the inanimate (as thought of nature previously), to try and calm the pace of the grotesque reality.
In the context of that reality, understanding the journey of someone like Jadav Payeng is essential. Belonging to a ‘mising’ tribal community of Assam, in the late 1970s he realised that nature around him was changing and on its way hurting objects of its own creation. The island of Majuli of where he’s a resident has faced the brunt of climate change first hand, yearly floods and erosion affecting not only human life and property but the rich flora and fauna and causing the island to shrink over time.
In the summer of ’79, he was deeply affected by the sight of hundreds of snakes washed up dead on the riverbed, he couldn’t imagine a similar fate for any other living being and decided to do something about it. On the sand bar, which didn’t even qualify for Government’s green initiatives owing to lesser levels of fertility, he started by planting bamboo trees, as it could sustain the harsh conditions.
He has lost count of the number of trees he has planted in more than four decades since then, estimates running up to ‘hundreds of thousands’ had shocked even the forest department. Jadav Payeng didn’t seek any permission to plant a forest, he had carried on with the ‘mising tribes’ tradition of honouring nature’. The dense groves that are a fully functional forest ecosystem today, sprawling over 550 hectares, is commonly known as the Molai forest, named after him. His dedication, he hopes has been able to set an example of what an individual can do to change the environment. Commenting on the size of his project, the ‘self-styled naturalist’ said, “It’s not as if I did it all alone. You plant one or two trees, and they have to seed. And once they seed, 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.”
In 2010, a Jorhat based freelance journalist and wildlife photographer Jintu Kalita wrote about Jadav Payeng, in an Assamese Newspaper, the very first news piece on him that brought him to the limelight. It has led to hundreds of stories and news articles, books and chapters on him as well as numerous documentaries on his work. In a public function arranged by School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, Payeng was named ‘the Forest Man of India’ by the then Vice-Chancellor of the Institute.
In 2015, he was honoured with the Padma Shri and has received honorary doctorates from numerous universities since then. People from around the globe visit Molai Forest today, to see more than 120 species of migratory birds and Elephants, Tigers and Rhinos that visit from the Kaziranga National Park and a slew of other flora and fauna that call the forest home, some even native to the river basin.
Jadav Payeng is grateful for the honour and accolades, which come quite often these days, at the same time worried about this newfound fame which along with everything, brings poachers and smugglers to the forest. As the forest expands, he is concerned if he alone can continue to look after it and hopes the recognition he has found would actually help direct governments and organisations towards the cause.
In a 2013 documentary, titled ‘Forest Man’, by William D McMaster, he talks about the expansion of his reforestation project to the entire island of Majuli. To make it more economically viable and help with the development of its population, Payeng proposes the idea of planting Coconut trees which would reap monetary benefits and its stronghold over the land help against erosion. While Payeng’s plans haven’t yet received official status, the state government has been positive towards the expansion project and has recommended the island several times for UNESCO heritage site status, without much success. The due recognition could help spearhead campaigns that would essentially speed up the reclamation and reforestation project along with its protection.
The islanders, who in the past had termed our forest man insane, weren’t always supportive of his project. They are still fearful of the vastness and concerned if it would ever have negative impacts upon them. Jadav Payeng has been able to uphold a staunch protest to all such claims while making people aware that humans and our collective action causes more threat to the environment than they could ever cause. He would rather sacrifice himself than letting someone harm the forest.
Fame hasn’t changed his life on the island. He still lives in a traditional ‘chang ghar’ along with his family of four, gets up early every day, rides a boat to reach his forest, tends to the plants and replants new seeds and weeds out poisonous varieties, the process has gotten easier but he continues with the same dedication that started him on his journey some 40 years ago. He takes good care of his health, drinks a medicinal concoction of herbs collected from the forest itself, every day. He is brave, fearless and determined to do better for our environment till his last breath. When asked about climate change, he suggests humans to learn and teach the art of loving nature as much as we love ourselves, no other trick would ever compare to what we could achieve by treating nature right, the way it ought to be.
For this generation of youth, very much including me, whose war cry to heed to the climate crisis and help heal the earth has been louder than ever, Jadav Payeng’s journey and efforts to singlehandedly do better by our environment will always be heroic. In the power play of our world, biggest of our democracies either has done too little to reverse the climate crisis or shy away from accepting this theory of accelerated disaster in the interest of their ruthless capitalisation and material desires. Multinational organisations and NGOs haven’t necessarily been successful in changing the dialogue.
Understanding through Payeng, his lesson of ‘aatmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) and approach towards natures dilemma is truly empowering. To rely on government entities then is a big mistake, time for starting on a journey of corrective measures to heal our earth is now. Resources could be limited and the path could be difficult, but we all have to commit to restoring our home, our common heritage.
The ‘hero’ culture of our times, especially in countries like India, has often been problematic. Having said that, we need to start celebrating heroes like Jadav Payeng who has single-handedly stood up against privilege, against economic resourcefulness to understand the human impact on the environment, to reverse centuries of ignorance towards our better half, nature. Keeping someone like Payeng in our conscience will motivate and help gear up the fight against human actions that affect nature. Nature will always be unpredictable in its ways, either by love or war, but if we ethically and morally oblige ourselves to take care of it, nature would inadvertently look after us. Jadav Payeng’s fruit of labour and dedication has already led the way, we just needn’t falter away.
REFERENCES
GHOSH, AMITAV, THE GREAT DERANGEMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE UNTHINKABLE, PENGUIN BOOKS, INDIA, 2016.
MCCARTHY, JULIE (2017), A LIFETIME OF PLANTING TREES ON A REMOTE RIVER ISLAND: MEET INDIA’S FOREST MAN, npr.org
KANNADASAN, AKILA (2019), MEET JADAV PAYENG, INDIA’S FOREST MAN, WHO CREATED 550 HECTARES OF FOREST SINGLE-HANDEDLY, www.thehindu.com
MCMASTER D, WILLIAM (2014), FOREST MAN (documentary), YouTube
Featured Image: Jitu Kalita
