All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Everyone knows that forests and trees play a crucial role in purifying the environment and in balancing the nature and climate. But, there are only a few people who are sensitive towards them and want to foster, nurture and conserve them. It is said – ‘where there is a will, there is a way’. Therefore, despite the hurdles on their way, people with high willpower and dedication can achieve even the most difficult targets. The following are some of the unknown yet inspiring champions who are consistently working for the conservation of forests and the environment.

One such person is Simon Uraon of Jharkhand. Even at the age of eighty-four, he wakes up at 4:30 in the morning and begins his self-imposed duty of looking after the plants, trees and forest cover present around him. He gets so busy in this work that he would return home only in the afternoon. Until now, he has firmly stuck to his pledge of planting a thousand plants every year and nurturing them. For ensuring adequate supply of water, he has constructed wells and lakes at short distances. This scheme is benefiting about fifty villages of his block.

Simon not only promoted afforestation, but also attempted to eliminate the water crisis of the village. Initially, he built temporary dams for storing water, but they could not be sustained for long. So, he took aid from the government and constructed permanent dams. This helped the villagers in rain-water harvesting. With his companions, he made many dams and linked them with wells and lakes. Consequently, the fields which could raise only one crop in a year have begun to support upto three crops.

Saalumarada Thimmakka of Karnataka is another champion of afforestation. She continues to plant trees at the age of hundred and five and looks after them just like her own children. Born in a poverty-stricken family, she never got the opportunity to go to school. She began working as a labourer early in her childhood. She got married at the tender age of ten. Her husband, Chikaiyya worked as an agricultural labourer at the fields of other people. She also joined her husband in this work. When twenty-five years of their marriage passed and she was not able to conceive, the relatives and neighbours started taunting. This became unbearable to her. So one day, she planted a banyan plant near her house and began fostering it like her own child with the hope that this may bring some relief to her.

Later on, in order to fill the void of her life, she began the practice of planting trees. In this practice she also got the support of her husband. In the first year, she planted ten plants of banyan, which increased to twenty in the subsequent year and now this number is over four hundred. These are spread in an area of about four kilometers between the Hulikal and Kudoor regions of Ramnagar district on both sides of the national highway. She is still continuing the process of planting new plants and looking after them.

Deviram Gurjar is another example. He a farmer of the village Kala Khera located near Ranthambore National Park in the Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan. The residents of this village cut trees not only for their daily requirements, but also for selling

wood. About two decades back, when Deviram tried to save the trees and forest of the region, he had to face stiff resistance from the inhabitants of his own village. Then he began planting trees of neem and babul in his own ten bigha land to compensate for the trees cut by the villagers. This has set an unprecedented example of afforestation in a village where even electricity and other means of development have not reached even today.

Jadav Payeng belongs to the Mishing tribe of Aruna Sapori, an estuary of Brahmaputra in the Jorhat district of Assam. The land here is sandy and a lot of silt deposits every year due to constant flooding. Once when he came to his village after his high school examination, he saw that over hundred snakes were lying dead on the hot sand due to scorching heat. The heat became the cause

of death of other creatures also. He thought that one day even humans could meet the same fate as these helpless creatures. So he started planting bamboo plants and seeds on this barren land. It was not easy for a single person to water so many plants on the

daily basis. Therefore, he kept an earthen pot on the top of every bamboo plant and made small holes in it. In this way, the plants got water drop by drop.

Within a few years there developed a flourishing bamboo forest. Then, he began planting other trees as well. Today, there are numerous plants, trees and medicinal plants present on this estuary. After about thirty-six years of Jadav’s hard labour, this land now has a dense forest spread over 1360 acres. People call him Molai, which means ‘forest’; and this jungle is known as Molai forest after him. Today, this estuary is home to hundreds of species of birds, deer, leopards, tigers, beers, monkeys, rhinoceros and many types of snakes.

There is yet another passionate man, named M. Yoganathan. He was born in an extremely poor family of Mayavaram in Tanjore district. His father expired in his childhood and mother went to work in the tea gardens of Nilgiri. He lived with his elder sister. In his school days, he made handmade posters against the timber mafias of Nilgiri and stuck them on the walls at night. Whenever he saw someone cutting the trees, he immediately informed it to the police and the forest department. Once he met Jayachandran, an environmental activist associated with ‘Tamil Nadu Green Movement’. This meeting fuelled his passion for conserving the environment.

He learnt many things about the trees from the aborigines of Nilgiri. He loved to live in the forest with them. He was weak in studies but knew everything related to the environment. He began planting trees when he was in the eighth standard and up till now he has planted over three hundred thousand trees. About half of his salary goes into this.

Another good example of collective efforts for afforestation comes from the Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh. Here women volunteers of Gayatri Pariwar, have planted over ten thousand trees on a mountain range and converted it into a flourishing forest. There is another volunteer of Gayatri pariwar from Rajsamand district of Rajasthan, who planted over 1.25 lakhs plants in her lifetime. Everyone, from the government to the local authorities, is amazed at the enthusiasm of this seventy year old woman.The above-mentioned examples amply demonstrate that if there is a firm determination, one can do a lot for conserving the environment; and in the process, get people’s respect and also soul satisfaction.