Name: Jadav Payeng

Vote Count: 128

Source of Information: I read about him in a report published in the Times of India. I also saw a documentary about his work on YouTube

Category: Protecting the Environment

Reason(s) for Nomination: Jadav Payeng has spent decades as a lone environmental activist, single-handedly turning a barren sandbar on the River Brahmaputra into a forest spread across more than 1300 acres. He started out by planting bamboo saplings and then planted other varieties of trees and other plants. Today the forest created by Jadav has become the habitat of Bengal tigers, rhinoceros, deer and various species of birds.