5 days ago
- General
- New Indian Express
The Forest Queen of Majuli
On a misty morning in Majuli, Assam's ever-eroding river island, a barefoot woman hoists a sack of saplings over her shoulder and steps into a waiting boat. The river is high, the current restless, but she's done this hundreds of times. As she balances against the rocking vessel, a villager on the bank calls out, 'Forest Queen!' Munmuni Payeng smiles, nods, and keeps moving. There are trees to plant.
Daughter of Padma Shri awardee Jadav Payeng, the 'Forest Man of India,' who famously turned barren land into the lush Molai forest, Munmuni's own journey began in 2022, when she assembled a grassroots team of around 60 people. Their mission: reforest the flood-ravaged zones across Majuli using only native species. 'There were no trees when we started. Now, slowly, the land is changing,' smiles the 25-year-old.
Each morning, her team packs food, gathers tools, loads saplings or seeds, and crosses the river to reach planting zones. During the March-to-May planting window—when survival rates are highest—they plant 3,000 saplings a day. The team collects seeds from the Molai forest, grows them in community-run nurseries, and plants them across erosion-prone sandbars and river isles. They revisit sites, monitor growth, and replant where needed. By early 2024, the team had already crossed the one-million-trees mark. 'We weren't counting on a milestone. It was only later that we realised how far we'd come,' says the young woman.
