JNU honours ‘forest man’ on Earth Day-Manimugdha S Sharma

Sunday Times had on April 1 reported about Assam man Jadav Payeng’s unparalleled feat of single-handedly growing a forest spread over 550 hectares on a sandbar in the Brahmaputra over 30 years. Following that, Jawaharlal Nehru University decided to have him over on Earth Day. On Sunday, Payeng was honoured at a function organized by the School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, for his remarkable achievement at a public function.

As a symbolic gesture, Payeng planted five saplings in the campus on Sunday morning, flagging off a green initiative of the university. An interactive session was held where Payeng shared his experience of creating the forest that is home to the endangered Indian vulture, one-horned rhino and Royal Bengal tiger. The session was attended by Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh, popularly known as the ‘water man of India’, JNU vice-chancellor Sudhir Kumar Sopory, SES dean Sudha Bhattacharya and a host of other faculty members and students. Sopory called Payeng the ‘forest man of India’. He added that true nature lovers don’t spend time attending lectures and conferences, they are found in the field; they need no awards for motivation, their love for nature is ingrained.