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2 The Forest

Man of India

Warm Up

● Do you have plants and trees around your homes?

● How does it feel when you have trees all around you?

● Why do people cut down trees?

● Do you think it’s right to cut down trees?

Reading skills

Jadav ‘Molai’ Payeng was born into a humble family, in Assam’s Mishing tribe. When Jadav
was just five years old, a massive flood submerged his family home. His parents relocated to
Majuli. Due to financial problems, he lived with Anil Borthakur, a court master at the District

Judge Court in Jorbat. There was a man, Dr. Jadabesh Barua, an agricultural scientist, who
taught him that planting trees was not enough. He said, we need to foster them, grow them
and also learn their names.

At 16, when Jadav returned to his village, he saw something that changed his entire life.
Hundreds of snakes lay dead in the sandbar due to the heat. He was very hurt. He wondered

what would happen if humans faced the same situation. They would all die!

Determined to find a solution, Jadav
sought guidance from the village elders.
They told him to grow trees. “How could

I do that?” he wondered. Then they
told him, “You could begin by planting
bamboo. They grow fast.”

In 1979, Jadav quit school and started

planting bamboo saplings in the
sandbar. Initially, he did not get any
financial help. But he managed by using

the money he got by selling the milk of
cows and buffaloes.

Every morning, Jadav would wake up at 3 am. He commuted to the sandbar with the saplings

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