The awe-inspiring story of Jadav Payeng, “The Forest Man of India” has now graced the pages of school books in the Greene Hills School in Bristol, Connecticut in the USA.
The school’s sixth-grade curriculum now includes a chapter on how the Padma Shri recipient has transformed a 550-acre barren sandbar of the Brahmaputra in Majuli into a thriving forest.
The forest has been lovingly named “Molai Forest” after him.
The ecological destruction going around him affected him to such an extent that he single-handedly and painstakingly planted the forest over a period of more than four decades.
Different species of wild animals and plants now abound in the Molai Forest that is situated near Kokilamukh in Jorhat district.
This chapter on Payeng has been included as part of the ecology lessons of the students.
The prime reason for the inclusion of a chapter on Payeng was to inspire and encourage future generations on how a person single-handedly made a huge positive impact on the environment with the right attitude and determination, sid Navamee Sharma, a teacher at the Greene Hills School.
Teachers in the school hope that the chapter on Payeng will definitely encourage the students to do their bit in saving the ecosystem.
His determination and efforts stood the test of time, which is evident from the lush greenery that abounds the once barren sandbar. What he achieved is unthinkable for many even today.