Planting a 550-hectare forest on a barren sandbar in Assam’s Majuli—alone, over a lifetime—Jadav Payeng aspired merely to be the protagonist of his own story, until a photographer stumbled upon his forest and told the world about it. A decade later, he seems more at ease with his fame
“At the age of 17, I started to grow trees on barren land. Many challenging years later a jungle of 1200 hectares has grown out of this idea.” This is a story of passion and perseverance and how an individual can change the course of nature.
Jadav Payeng belongs to a tribe called “Mishing” in Assam, India. He lives in a small hut in the forest. Binita, his wife, and his 3 children (two sons and a daughter) accompany him. Over the course of several decades, he planted and tended trees on a sandbar of the river Brahmaputra turning it into a forest reserve. The forest, called Molai forest after him, is located near Kokilamukh of Jorhat, Assam, India and encompasses an area of about 1,360 acres / 550 hectares. In 2015, he was honoured with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India
He has cattle and buffalo on his farm and sells the milk for his livelihood, which is his only source of income. In a recent interview he revealed that he 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.
Grand Eastern Holidays welcomes environmentalists, nature lovers and tourist to come and meet this legendary figure and explore his forest which has now become a nature’s paradise.
