It's No Green Chic For Simon, He Preserves The Jungle To Save Humans

Simon, however, is no Greenpeace activist well-versed in the ways of politically correct environmental chic. He is a villager, an illiterate tribal for whom "the survival of life on earth is closely linked to the survival of the jungle". This villager is apparently no different from his fellow-tribals insomuch as he too has to work hard to eke out his living. But there is a difference; his work is also his life's mission - to preserve the jungle. He wants to protect and plant millions and millions of trees in Chhotanagpur - one of the earliest plateau formations in the world.

Simon rues that what (Chhotanagpur) had hitherto been one of the foremost greenbelts of the country had, over the years, fallen a victim to the contractors' saw and the forest mafia's axe. But he adds in the same breath that he is determined to retrieve the plateau's old ecology, no matter what the obstacles.

And this spirit of dedication and determination has made Simon Oraon a living cult in the Chhotanagpur tribal belt. He has been chosen as the chief of the 51 villages in and around Bero area and is popularly known as "Padha Raja" or "Raja Sahab"or "Simon Raja". So, there is Simon Raja and his village forest guard committee looking after about 250 acres of forest and one can easily distinguish this area from the rest of the jungle: it has huge, grownup, green saal trees. Started about

40 years ago from his village Khagsi Toli, Simon by virtue of his infectious zeal and sustained effort has reached out to 40,000 tribals in the region.

Simon has an interesting incident to relate. In 1961, when a temporary bundh (dam) connecting his village to neighbouring Jamtoli was broken and the former's only link cut off, he single-handedly rebuilt that 42-foot-high mud bundh and restored communication. Says Simon with a smile: "To accomplish this task I had to be under water for all of 10 minutes and the villagers thought that I had drowned. Today there stands a huge saal tree at the site planted by me to remember that incident". According to villager Bandhu Bhagat, since then whenever and wherever in the area the government failed to build a dam or a bridge, Simon pitched in and did the needful.

Simon has formed a 25-member committee in each villages to look after the forest of the area and on every Thursday he calls a meeting of the committee members to monitor the affairs. Explains Simon: "Usually, the meeting lasts for three hours and whoever is found guilty for lax in his duty is fined Rs 15 which could go up to Rs 50, depending on the seriousness of the laxity."

Simon Raja is so popular and revered in the area that he even settles villagers' disputes after both the police and the courts have failed. Says he: "Most of the cases which come to me have to do with either witchcraft or family feuds." Seeing his contribution to the environment, Sarah Jewitt, a doctral student of geography from Newham College, University of Cambridge, has mentioned Simon in her thesis: "My highest debt is to Simon Oraon who put up with my ignorance and constant questioning and helped me to make my stay one of the best experiences in life." But has this 'jungle-man' got any assistance from the government ? "Yes, a water drum", says Simon with a broad smile. Anyone who wishes to be with Simon in his mission can contact him at: Hariharpur, Jamtoli Tola, Village Khagsi Toli, Bero, Ranchi.