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Good Morning

Four weeks ago today, on Republic Day, the Government of India announced the annual Padma Shri awards for distinguished service by civilians. Among the awards for Science, Literature, Art and Sport, is one given under the category ‘Other’ to Jadav Payeng, a forestry worker, who has spent his life planting trees.

In an interview for the Â鶹ԼÅÄ World Service, he described how he started. It was a particularly hot year in the 1970s, when as a teenager, he noticed that snakes were dying from exposure under the relentless sun. He went to the community elders to ask if anything could be done. Their response was to give him a bamboo sapling to plant – one single tree.

From that time onwards, Jadav Payeng has planted more trees, until by now there is a dense forest of about 1300 acres. In his interview he recorded that there were not only snakes in the forest, but elephants, deer, tigers and a variety of birds. In addition, the erosion of the land has been halted.

This one man environmental campaign is based not on a desire for money, honour or fame, but, in his own words, for the pleasure of seeing the animals and birds in the forest.
Recently, he said he had dreamt that the animals were joining him in planting trees. Clearly, the forest has taken on its own life, and is creating its own eco-system. If poachers and loggers can be kept at bay, it will thrive now in its own right.

God of creation, we give you thanks for the resilience and diversity of the natural world. Forgive us when our greed and indifference contribute to devastation. Thank you for the courage and tenacity of all those, who work to restore what has been lost.
Amen