The Festival of Forests or Vanmahotsava is celebrated during July every year being the season for planting trees which thankfully we do in right earnest from the Chief Minister down to the common man. It was initiated in 1950 by K M Munshi, the then Agriculture Minister of India. Its western namesake or The World Environment Day has come and gone. In the Southern Hemisphere, it being winter, everything was just talk on that day, but here in Meghalaya we began our planting season – what is the purpose in celebrating the environment if we do not do something meaningful about it?
No longer do we conceive nature as a supernatural phenomenon, we believe we have come to know nature and so we speak about climate change, global warming, carbon sequestration, etc, but we really only know what they reflect, which may not correspond, or have anything to do with reality, there is a mysterious “X” in the entire reality of nature and therefore it shouldn’t come as a surprise to us when we proceed in one way and a few years later discover that this is not the best way and that there is another way. But of one thing we are sure of is that the planting of trees always relates well with the natural essence of nature. So let us take upon ourselves the evolutionary course developed in India and celebrate the “Festival of Forests” the “Vanmahotsava” for the whole month of July, June included – plant trees wherever and whenever the opportunity presents itself.
What really concerns us here is this: that the forest cover of our State and the world, has at present only one real enemy capable of harming it – the people. It is the people we cannot trust for a number of reasons, the primary among which is the fact that forest lands are now the best lands for habitation, every other plot having been overpopulated by now. We the people must be vigilant to prevent any attempt to replace forest cover with man-made structures. Reserved Forests and National Parks are the remnant of what the State would have been like if man had not settled in these areas, they are a “kernel” of what still can be, because it is from these kernels that the land can once again attain its original status, its original integrity, and it is in our own benefit if we can reforest whatever area there is with the species that we find in these “kernels”.
Unconditional honest forestry is what we need now and thankfully there are some citizens capable of it. To an environmentalist there can be nothing that excites the disgust more than the armchair environmentalist or the armchair Forest Officer, as we referred to them back in our day. If we are to understand the environment it needs to be interpreted from its innate characteristics implying that we need to express nature as good or bad as we attribute in human terms, we must try to conceive good and bad not as nature wants us to – that’s impossible – but as we know it or to put it simply we must observe and understand where and why nature is destructive and where and why it is constructive in human terms, because the only ones who can contribute to build up and prevent the harm that nature does to itself are humans, not that they cannot harm it of their own accord as well. These two phenomena go hand in hand in nature just as they go hand in hand in human societies, and since we do what we can to eliminate that which is destructive for the human society we must also eliminate that which nature does to destroy itself – try to see life on earth that way.
The animals perceive an entirely different environment from the ones that we humans do, that is considering that they do perceive at all, and that the question as to which one of these perceptions of the world is better is quite meaningless, for this would have to be decided by the standard of a common purposeful conception which does not exist, hence the need for us to take for granted that our perception and our goals are the best there are, not only for us but for all that share this environment with us – for now there is no way we can know the reality of the things in themselves. The fact is that we can feel the goodness of the forest better than we can see it. And that brings us to examine the way we see nature in these hills.
It is very evident that the manner in which the Khasis appropriated the environment was through the conservation of forest cover – Sacred Groves, Village forests and Legal forests which indicate that they did have an eye for understanding of what is a good environment – they could actually choose from one of the above when going about it. They understood that nature (god?) had no argument with itself, and that it would endure whatever went on without any prejudice. They did not consider that nature was destructive in a human sense, hence the barren hills we see everywhere today. They appeared to accept that the conditions of life in nature as in human societies include error. Their view that nature was a gift from god is now a thing of the past for the simple reason that we know nature is its own destroyer and that unless we meddle with it, it cannot sustain itself – that is an indisputable law. Take the following event:-
Once upon a time in the past, far and near, there were the naturally regenerating pine seedlings in the Laitkor Peak (P) Forest. In course of time the seedlings have been destroyed by the forest fires (man-made?) that ravaged the forest in the dry season and since the fires were ground fires only, they did their moral duty of breaking down the poor pine seedlings that were desperately struggling to find the light and their ashes contributed to the much needed alkaline composition in the soil to encourage the sprouting and survival of the broad leaved evergreen species, so that now the forest composition has suddenly taken on an evergreen broad leaved character with pine trees occupying the dead and dying generation.
You see what’s going on – the vanishing of the pine trees and their replacement with evergreens is a process without sentimentality. Nature does not let sentiments interfere with succession, but we do and we must, because this is where we come in with intelligent actions that are conducive to the requirements of everything that is dependent on the forest, and in its widest interpretation for the benefit of the survival of humanity. The survival of mankind is the primary thought that must come to mind – even if it is not the ideal; and 150 years of Forestry in India proves that it is the best way to look at the environment. The Laitkor Peak (P) Forest is seeing a transformation of the vegetation and there is a cause.
As mentioned, the once predominantly pine forest is perishing. It is almost impossible to find pine seedlings on the forest floor along the path from Motinagar to Malki. And this is coming about through the effort of the Forest Officer in charge of the area – one Mr. Kurbah who lives in Malki/Lumparing and is posted as in charge of the Motinagar Beat Office. He walks along the forest paths from his home every morning to get to his office with an ever watchful eye on the status of the growing stock, aiding the natural regeneration of wild fruit species occurring or filling up the blanks with evergreen species. It’s almost as if he has read the conscience of the forest and the people living in its vicinity and translated that into an asset.
There were those who viewed nature as though it were proof of the goodness and providence of a creator, who interpreted it from the point of view of a moral intention, a preordained sign – thankfully very few contribute to that idea now. We propel creation and recreation; we are the processor in nature. Nature acts slowly, we do not, nature needs us, and we need it.
And we need water. In 1883 a Forest Officer surveyed the Laitkor Peak (P) Forest to locate a source of drinking water for the proposed township of Shillong. The vegetation that dominated the bedrock area from where the water gushed out was composed of evergreen broad leaved species. He termed the area as “The Green Block” from where no felling of trees would be permitted in the Working Plans of the Department. The Green Block as it is referred to now is the land of the Kharkongor Clan. They leased it to the government at an annual fee. Proper structures to capture the water from the bedrock was constructed and to this day the municipality provides water to its residents from The Green Block.
The term of the lease has expired and the government is left with two options, either renew the lease at current rates or acquire the land. The land owner has agreed to sell the land to the government. It is now up to the government to consider its course of action. Some people are demanding for the restoration of the land to the owners – we stand on the threshold of a momentous choice – lose the forest or retain the forest. Here once again we touch on the problem of nature and the problem of man, what meaning would our presence possess if it were not this, that we act on behalf of nature and on behalf of the survival of man in this year’s Festival of Forests – in this Vanmahotsava.
