Nuapada: In an age, when human civilisation is more inclined towards urbanisation, we are losing our forest cover and impacting the environment in rapid progression. It is high time, the conservation of forests is taken up as a priority at all levels.
However, the hero of this story is not someone who has conserved forests, instead, she has created a jungle all by herself, single-handedly.
And that too, not on a plain or plateau, Padmini Majhi, a tribal woman from Birsinghpur under Komna block in Nuapada district, has developed a forest over 100 acres of land on the ‘Nanda Tandul’ mountain.
Not one or two, it took Majhi as many 30 years of her life to building this forest which is rich in flora and fauna today. She protects this forest as a mother cares for her children – all that with an axe.
No one dares to harm any tree or shrub in these 100 hectares of land developed and conserved by Majhi.
Someone once said: “We Do Not Inherit the Earth from Our Ancestors; We Borrow It from Our Children”, who better than Majhi living in a remote hamlet fathomed this couplet better?
Majhi lacks academic qualifications but she is way more educated than people living in the cities. She very well understands the utility of jungles in saving our environment from the perils of industrialisation.
Without forests, human beings and other species cannot survive. For good weather and rainfall, the conservation of forest is crucial, she said, adding that her life is dedicated to protecting what she has reared all over the last three decades.
Majhi’s commitment to the environmental cause is exemplary and no less than a case study. With limited resources, this tribal woman has taught us how to plant and save trees, and contribute our two cents towards mother earth.
People of Birsinghpur idolise Padmini and say that the village owes her a lot. “It is because of her love for the jungles we breathe in clean air, have green surroundings and our children are healthy,” they said, expressing their gratitude to Majhi, whom they affectionately address as ‘Jungle Rani’.
