Dubbed 'Lady Tarzan' for her valiant efforts to save the trees, 38-year-old Jamuna Tudu has turned the East Singhbhum village the new center of ecological conservation in India.Jamuna Tudu is the protector of trees. The tribeswoman in Jharkhand takes the fight personally; she even ties a rakhi on each tree around her Muthurkham village, vowing to protect them like a sister.
Dubbed ‘Lady Tarzan’ for her valiant efforts to save the trees, the 38-year-old woman has turned the East Singhbhum village the new center of ecological conservation in India.
Thousands of sal trees in the tribal belt owe their existence to the ritualistic threads tied on them by Jamuna Tadu and other women in the village, situated around 200 kilometers away from Ranchi. ‘Lady Tarzan’ has earned her moniker. She has dedicated her life to the protection of trees.
The woman from Odisha shifted to Jharkhand after marriage. She was disturbed by the cruelties of the timber mafia that cleared the forest indiscriminately. The forest provided everything to the woman from the hinterland. Whenever she went inside the forest to collect firewood, she returned with a determination to resist the onslaught of the mafia.
Humble beginning
The last straw was an audacious attempt by the timber mafia to clear the 50 acre woodland near the Muthurkham village about 20 years ago. Jamuna Tudu and five women took the lumberjacks head on. The women did not have it easy. Yet formation of a forest protection council in 1998 provided a lifeline for the forest.
The women chased away the lumberjacks and vowed to protect the trees from axes and chainsaws. The entire village was impressed by the work of the women’s group. The villagers lined up behind their women to protect their livelihood.
Jamuna Tudu treated the trees as her siblings, naming each of them and tying a rakhi around them. The thread that symbolized a brother’s love and care for his sister acted as a safety net around the trees.
The timber mafia prepared for a counter attack. They bribed the villagers and intimidated those who did not budge. Jamuna Tudu and her women did not back down. They brushed aside the barbed comments of relatives who told them to take care of their families first.
For her children
Jamuna Tudu stopped formal education at tenth grade yet she knows her fight is for the coming generations. She instinctively knew that deforestation was dangerous for humanity. She taught the villagers that their lives and livelihood depended on trees. With the bleak prospect of an exodus in mind, many of her detractors switched over to her side.
The genesis of her struggle lay in her childhood. Her family revered and worshiped trees. She was aghast when she came to Jharkhand. Villagers would chop off a tree without a care. Jamuna had to fight the timber mafia and create awareness among her own villagers.
The men in the village found an easy source of money in the woodlands. Whenever they needed money to get drunk, they could go into the forest and fell a tree and sell it to the timber mills. Jamuna knew her fight had to be two-pronged. She organized the women in the village to chase away the bootleggers and weaned their men away from alcoholism.
A decade of uncompromising campaign paid off when more and more men and women joined the forest protection council. The collective was now a people’s movement.
Jamuna and her team convinced the villagers that felling trees were against the law and their tribal rituals. She encouraged her folk to stand up against the pressure tactics of the timber mafia. She taught the villagers on the evil effects of deforestation. She was emboldened when the initial opposition waned.
The original five-member forest protection council now had 25 members. The volunteers equipped themselves with bamboo bows and arrows. The timber mafia did not stand a chance but they were not ones to take it lying down.
The backlash
Jamuna TuduThe mafia hit back with a vengeance. They unleashed a vicious campaign against the villagers. They hunted down Jamuna and her colleagues in the forest protection council. They even set fire to the huts in the village and the adjoining farmlands. Many of the villagers backed out from the resistance. Some of them even fled the language. Not Jamuna and her comrades.
Jamuna worked hard to instill confidence and courage among the villagers. She was not spared. Miscreants even tried to set Jamuna and her husband Mansingh on fire. She returned from the brink of death twice. She emerged from each crisis stronger.
The violent attacks made the villagers stronger too. Armed with arrows and staffs, they stood up to the gun-slinging criminals. The timber mafia was losing the game.
Jamnua and her villagers rejoiced when the Jharkhand government decided to assume responsibility for the trees on 50 acres in the Muthurkham area.
The forest protection council is a formidable force now. About 300 teams with 30 members each roam the area to spot any illegal activity. They work round the clock in shifts.
Jamuna’s convictions have saved the forests around her village. She goes around telling villagers not to cut any tree. Use fallen trees to meet their needs, she tells them.
Recognition galore
Jamuna’s work has earned her several national and international honors, from the Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Awards 2013 to the recent Woman Transforming Award. She was even invited to the Rashtrapati Bhavan by former president Pranab Mukherjee.
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