Page 22 - My FlipBook

Jadav in Real Life

Jadav ‘Mulai’ Payeng is a conservationist and recipient
of the Padmashree, one of the highest civilian honours

awarded by the Indian government. Jadav lives in
Majuli, Assam.

At the age of 16, distressed by the sight of dying
snakes that had washed up on a sandbar banking the
Brahmaputra, Jadav decided to plant some trees in the
spot. He started small, with bamboos, and grew an

entire forest, plant by painstaking plant. This was back
in 1979.

Over the next three decades, Jadav and his tree-
planting have managed to change the soil in the

barren area. The 550-hectare sandbar is now a lush,
dense forest and home to a variety of flora and fauna,
including elephants, tigers, apes, deer and many

species of local and migratory birds. Jadav continues
to visit and nurture his forest every day, planting
wherever he finds empty patches.

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