Jadav PayengBijit Dutta, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Jadav Payeng is an environmental activist. He was born in 1963 in Assam and belongs to the Mising tribe. He is known as forest man of India because he has devoted 30 years of his life to the forest and planting trees. He had been also honoured with Padma Shri award in the year 2015.
He is an inspiration to all nature lovers and even to me too. When he was just 16, he saw hundreds of snakes dying due to the destruction of the forest, which is when he started to plant bamboo saplings. Today it is a forest that covers 1390 acres or 550 hectares of land. Thus, Payeng managed to create a manmade forest and named it the molai forest.
“I’ll plant till my last breath.” These words by Payeng have been inspirational and has touched my heart too. I believe in the saying, ”Never underestimate the power of a human.”
A few books have also been written on Payeng like “The Boy Who Grew a Forest" by Sophia M. Gholz and The Forest Man by Anne Matheson. Both the stories are a fitting tribute to Jadav Payeng–the man who grew forests.
Page created on 4/10/2021 12:08:11 PM
Last edited 4/13/2021 4:58:26 AM
