With its charming
traditions and beautiful landscape , the great river island of Majuli is one of
Assam’s loveliest gems. The history and culture of Majuli is so strong that it
is impossible not to fall in love with it. MAUSUMI CHETIA came to Majuli to
complete her M.A. dissertation. However
, the thirst for exploring this place, breathing it’s serenity and living the
company of it’s simple natured peopled never seem to be satisfied enough – the
search led Ms. Chetia to a man who has
been walking an exemplary path.
Seeds of Change by Mausumi Chetia
Shri Jadav Molai
Payeng, now fifty five years, has planted a forest which has grown over 2000
hectares now, starting from a tiny sand-filled island of the Brahmaputra called
Aruna chapori. This he started as a young, compassionate teenager, employed
with the district forest department of Jorhat district. As years rolled by, he
has been voluntarily joined in his endeavors by his spouse Bina and their three
children. Voluntary is emphasized here because it forms the base of the
life of an earthy individual and his small family. As Bina says,
“Only
after marriage did I realize his craze for planting trees. Slowly over the
years, I’ve started helping him too as I derived happiness from his. Now my
brother, sister-in-law and my mother also help us in planting in new areas.”
Evidently, she’s been standing by him
with her rock-solid support for around two decades of their marriage. So much
so that since its nascent stage, the family decided to stay back with their
sixth family member, Payeng’s forest. For logistical reasons like close
distance of their children’s school, only four years back they had to move away
to a human-inhabited village in a nearby char. However, their youngest son
decided to stay back with his maternal uncle’s family even if it implied
walking far to access his school, just so that he gets to live close by the
forest. The visionary, in his lifetime has surely been able to develop
compassion for his passion within his family.
Beyond awards
and lectures: From a daily-wage labourer to a Social Entrepreneur
Following Shri Jitu
Kalita’s accidental stint with the molai kathoni and Payeng’s first
interview in 2012, the civilian award of Padma Shri was conferred to Payeng in
2015. Since then, he’s has spoken in numerous lectures and interviews, in
print, in electronic as well as in the social media, both national and
international. Many a documentaries have been made on him; titles like forest
man, green warrior & an increasing number of awards from
different corners of the world have been presented to him. This surprise focus
of cameras, microphones and stages however haven’t unfazed him; from the
grounded, small villager that he is.
Most of
Payeng’s awards& invitations come with an honorarium as a token of
appreciation for his unmoved dedication of turning vast sandbars to green
covers. Adding a bit more from his pocket to that, he accumulates an adequate
amount; to buy higher quality seeds like segun, gomari etc. and engage three
full-time workers from nearby villages. These men are employed during april to
june every year when the sowing season of fresh saplings and plants is on.
Stretching farther the horizon of the green cover, these men work away quietly
so that someone in some corner of the globe can breathe life many years from
now. An encouraging aspect of his recently growing popularity is the frequent
visits of his Indian and foreign guests. Researchers, journalists,
environmental enthusiasts, students, governmental and non-governmental
representatives throng his forest and home throughout the year. Since he lives
in a char village, people require using small country boats to make the way
through two small rivers to reach his place. Few local villagers have been
happy to offer their services as boatmen for a small but unperturbed income,
also playing the role of guides of the area talking proudly of the forest’s
popularity and it’s creator. However, the forest cover is out of the limits for
any outdoor activities like picnics, shooting etc. Payeng believes that this
would scare the fauna and disturb the balanced lives of the forest and it’s neighbors.
Initially the villagers would get angry at him for breeding the forest’s
wildlife because of the occasional destruction of paddy crops by the elephants.
However, over the years, as their access to selling the same forest’s fruits
and making an extra earning has been growing, as a community they are now
protective of the forest and it’s limpidness. A beautiful co-existing relationship
has been nurtured among nature’s creations – humans, plants and beasts all
alike.
As far as
upgrading the socio-economic status of the family is concerned, both Bina and
Payeng derive happiness in the small wonders of life. They are content with
having fifty buffaloes and fifty cows to earn their livelihood. Grazing area of
the animals is of course the molai kathoni and it’s grass serving as fodder. In
Payeng’s words about the needs of his family,
“We
don’t have the desire to live in a palace and own cars. We are happy to live
amidst our trees and animals. We buy only salt and kerosene oil from the local
shops, rest everything grows at home or in our field.. this is our life and
we’re happy with the way it is”.
The Approach
and Belief System:
For sharing his
ideas and vision, Payeng believes in the strength of young minds. Except during
the sowing months when he reduces his visits, he goes for regular lectures to
schools and colleges throughout the country. Ironically enough, giant corporate
companies of India have also invited him for talks on environmental issues.
Fearlessly honest, Payeng does not mince his words whatever the forum might be.
Be it the issue of development that minuses the socio-cultural well-being of
the displaced tribal communities of Orissa, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, or
the state government’s lop sided mechanisms to ‘control’ a river as fiery and
mighty as the Brahmaputra, Payeng believes in firmly putting forth his
opinions. India has witnessed strong voices from within the community in the
past and at present. These voices like Payeng’s have been successful to a great
extent in protecting the rights of the ecological system, environment and those
not-so-advantaged communities which are dependent on these resources at
multiple levels. The Bishnoi movement of Rajasthan(1471), the Chipko movement
of Uttarakhand, the Silent valley project of Kerala, the Narmada bachao abhiyan
of Madhya Pradesh are few of the prominent movements of the ’80s and ’90s;
recently madhubani painting artists of Bihar took to painting trees to stop
them from felling. Additionally, environmental activists like Baba Amte, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Billy
Arjan Singh, Saalumarada Thimmakka, Medha
Patkar, Rajendra Singh, Sunderlal Bahuguna,
and numerous more have time and again demonstrated through their sheer hard
work and dedication the crucial importance of nature and the essentiality of
it’s protection. As Guha states, a wise, and caring government would have deepened the precocious,
far-seeing efforts of our environmental scientists. But alas, this was not
to be, at least with Payeng’s work till this article has been penned.
Exploiting
Payeng’s Passion: Reflections for a Policy Framework
The Payeng family’s work is especially
contextual given it’s geographical location. Assam falls in the seismic zone IV
along with many other Northeastern states of India. According to hydrological
experts, 45 percent of Assam’s total landmass is prone to flooding by the
Brahmaputra. The river is found to be extremely unstable at some vulnerable
locations such as Majuli. Post-1950 earthquake, the erosion level has
been on a steady rise which has increased the height of the river bed causing
flash floods and untimely erosion at unconventional areas as well.
Through
longitudinal discussions and deliberations with few renowned Indian and
European scientists, Payeng has a few concepts in mind that might prove
not-so-difficult for both the state and central governments to be incorporated
in their work in handling the perennial issue of floods and erosion of Assam. Porcupine
barriers and making concrete embankments filled with sand shall bring no
erosion or flood to a halt. Rather, plantation of coconut trees and use of
mokal variety of bamboo to keep them intact can help in reducing the natural
hazards. Coconut trees easily sway in strong winds (storms is a common
phenomenon in Assam before and during the summers). However they don’t get
uprooted as they have strong roots hence holding the soil together. Through all
the navigable routes of the river, sailing of ships would help in maintaining
the depth of the river bed that in future shall aid in reducing flash floods.
These are simple yet practically feasible ideas. Given the enormity and
plausibility of replication of his work and ideas, Payeng’s endeavours have the
capacity to be incorporated at policy levels. With the coming of the Disaster
Management Act of 2005 to the block level, the presence of National and Assam
State Action Plans on Climate Change in 2011, the scope appears brighter than
ever before.
It is only but natural
that while this family is busy planting saplings in a newly identified sandbar
near an inaccessible village, the appreciation of their work need to fundamentally
move beyond recognitions and interviews which undoubtedly hold their own niche
as well. As a people of the nation, voicing out Payeng family’s work so that
the concerned lawmakers and legislators of India take notice and act upon it is
bare minimum that the likes of us could do. Payeng’s vision and expert
knowledge ought to be exploited for the thousands like him in his region and
beyond – those faces that live in the periphery of a country’s socio-political
image, dwindling between the mercy of Nature and the powers-that-be. Because
while there’s only so much a person can do in his lifetime, the work shall
whisper it’s musings to many more generations to come.
This article is based on a telephonic interview by the
author with Shri Jadav Molai Payeng; additionally literature on disasters, environmental
movements and it’s pioneers of India, articles and documentaries made on Shri
Payeng have also been reviewed. The author is currently employed with a
non-governmental organization based in New Delhi, India – SEEDS which works on
reconstruction and rehabilitation of disaster affected and disaster communities
in India and Asia.
