- Novanita Sharma
Axomar Boraxaranya Dihing Patkai Rashtriya Udyan is the latest book penned by environmentalist, and writer Sri. Soumyadeep Datta. While the name of Sri. Soumyadeep Datta is inseparable from the rainforest conservation movement of Assam, the two names composing the title of the book ‘Axomar Boraxaranya’ and ‘Dihing Patkai Rashtriya Udyan’ connects everyone with the thoughts, emotions, and feelings of immensity linked with the vast wilderness of Assam’s richest and wildest forest space that miraculously survived the onslaught of humanity to see the 21st century and have shot to glory in the recent times after the upgradation of this rainforest to the status of a national park in 2021. The term Boraxaranya (Assamese word for ‘rainforest’) was first used by Sri. Datta in 1992 to describe the impenetrable multi structural forests spread across the Dibrugarh & Tinsukia districts of Assam, while he introduced the people of Assam and the world to the presence of rainforests in Assam for the first time in history. No one knew about the occurrence of rainforests in Assam before Sri. Soumyadeep Datta shared the information about this natural treasure with the world, no official documents and publications ever mentioned about the presence of rainforests in Assam before Sri. Datta announced its presence in 1992. This information changed the scene of biodiversity conservation in Assam. Sri. Soumyadeep Datta led the rainforest conservation movement of Assam under the leadership of Nature’s Beckon since 1994; it swept across three decades amongst the people of Assam to protect this rainforest for its future conservation, this iconic conservation movement has earned the respect of being a milestone in the conservation history of India. The Dihing Patkai National Park is unique amongst all other forests of India because of its conservation history. The Dihing Patkai National Park is the largest patch of rainforest in the Brahmaputra valley; is a living relic of natural history representing the vast tracts of rainforests that once covered the entire Brahmaputra valley which got fragmented, and destroyed in the course of time. Nestled in the bank of the Burhi Dihing river, in the picturesque landscape of Upper Assam this rainforest is famously called the ‘Amazon of East’ amongst the nature revelers. The Dihing Patkai National Park is the pride of Assam in the contemporary time. However, one must understand that this fame has come after a long struggle by a group of people under the visionary leadership of Shri. Soumyadeep Datta who provided identity to this forgotten forestland of Assam, from its identification as a rainforest in 1992 to the declaration of Dihing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary in 2004 and finally giving a decisive turn to its conservation by facilitating the process to include the entire Joypur reserve forest in the protected area of the present Dihing Patkai National Park. The names of Soumyadeep Datta and Nature’s Beckon are integral with the past, present, and future of the Dihing Patkai National Park, and so is the spirit of the rainforest conservation movement of Assam for the future conservation of this rainforest and the course of biodiversity conservation in Assam.
Axomar Boraxaranya Dihing Patkai Rashtriya Udyan is the latest book penned by environmentalist, and writer Sri. Soumyadeep Datta. While the name of Sri. Soumyadeep Datta is inseparable from the rainforest conservation movement of Assam, the two names composing the title of the book ‘Axomar Boraxaranya’ and ‘Dihing Patkai Rashtriya Udyan’ connects everyone with the thoughts, emotions, and feelings of immensity linked with the vast wilderness of Assam’s richest and wildest forest space that miraculously survived the onslaught of humanity to see the 21st century and have shot to glory in the recent times after the upgradation of this rainforest to the status of a national park in 2021. The term Boraxaranya (Assamese word for ‘rainforest’) was first used by Sri. Datta in 1992 to describe the impenetrable multi structural forests spread across the Dibrugarh & Tinsukia districts of Assam, while he introduced the people of Assam and the world to the presence of rainforests in Assam for the first time in history. No one knew about the occurrence of rainforests in Assam before Sri. Soumyadeep Datta shared the information about this natural treasure with the world, no official documents and publications ever mentioned about the presence of rainforests in Assam before Sri. Datta announced its presence in 1992. This information changed the scene of biodiversity conservation in Assam. Sri. Soumyadeep Datta led the rainforest conservation movement of Assam under the leadership of Nature’s Beckon since 1994; it swept across three decades amongst the people of Assam to protect this rainforest for its future conservation, this iconic conservation movement has earned the respect of being a milestone in the conservation history of India. The Dihing Patkai National Park is unique amongst all other forests of India because of its conservation history. The Dihing Patkai National Park is the largest patch of rainforest in the Brahmaputra valley; is a living relic of natural history representing the vast tracts of rainforests that once covered the entire Brahmaputra valley which got fragmented, and destroyed in the course of time. Nestled in the bank of the Burhi Dihing river, in the picturesque landscape of Upper Assam this rainforest is famously called the ‘Amazon of East’ amongst the nature revelers. The Dihing Patkai National Park is the pride of Assam in the contemporary time. However, one must understand that this fame has come after a long struggle by a group of people under the visionary leadership of Shri. Soumyadeep Datta who provided identity to this forgotten forestland of Assam, from its identification as a rainforest in 1992 to the declaration of Dihing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary in 2004 and finally giving a decisive turn to its conservation by facilitating the process to include the entire Joypur reserve forest in the protected area of the present Dihing Patkai National Park. The names of Soumyadeep Datta and Nature’s Beckon are integral with the past, present, and future of the Dihing Patkai National Park, and so is the spirit of the rainforest conservation movement of Assam for the future conservation of this rainforest and the course of biodiversity conservation in Assam.
This is the
first published book which provides information on the course of the Nature’s
Beckon led rainforest conservation movement in the declaration of the Dihing
Patkai National Park in 2021. Sri. Datta writes about the conspiracies floated against
the rainforest conservation movement by the consecutive state governments of
Assam that reigned in the state before 2016. He writes about the government
lease provided to the Oil India Ltd., and the Coal India Ltd., for oil and coal
extraction from the Joypur Reserve Forest. These lease permits were provided by
the then State Government of Assam which completely ignored the pleas of
Nature’s Beckon and the people of Assam for protection of this rainforest and rather
facilitated the exploitation of the biodiversity rich Joypur Reserve Forest by
keeping it outside the wildlife sanctuary in 2004. This facts about the
conspiracies of the erstwhile Congress led State Governments of Assam came to
light when Nature’s Beckon intensified its demand for expansion of the Dihing
Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary to include the Joypur Reserve Forest in the jurisdiction
of the Dihing Patkai National Park. Sri. Soumyadeep Datta has written the details
about this phase of the rainforest conservation movement which garnered support
from the civil society, and many prominent public leaders of Assam. Many
so-called conservationists of Assam failed to lend their support to the
Nature’s Beckon led rainforest conservation movement and resorted to team up
with the negative force that continued to resist the efforts made by this
conservation movement to protect this rainforest of Assam, at the same time many
individuals and the decision makers from fossil fuel based public sector
companies like Oil India Ltd., and Coal India Ltd., played a crucial role in
facilitating the protection of Joypur rainforest. Sri. Datta has shared the
official letters corresponded during this time between Nature’s Beckon and Oil
India Ltd., and Coal India Ltd., proving the authenticity of the significant
contribution of these two companies towards the conservation of Assam’s richest
rainforest, especially in the protection of the Joypur rainforest in 2020. Sri.
Tridib Hazarika, Deputy General Manager of Oil India Ltd., and Sri. Jugal K.
Borah, General Manager of Coal India Limited played key roles in facilitating
this process. Sri. Soumyadeep Datta has written details about the official dialogs
that took place between Nature’s Beckon and these individuals representing OIL
and North Eastern Coal Fields (also called Coal India Ltd.) to release the
Joypur Reserve Forest from the Government issued lease agreements given to OIL
and Coal India Ltd. It is noteworthy that the previous state governments of
Assam that preceded the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led state cabinet of 2016 had
given self-renewing lease permissions to OIL and Coal India Ltd., for oil
extraction and coal mining activities inside the Joypur Reserve Forest, and because
of this it was impossible to include the area of Joypur Reserve Forest in
Dihing Patkai National Park until and unless these lease agreements are scrapped
and declared null and void by Oil India Ltd., and Coal India Ltd. The exclusive
power for this decision lay solely in the hands of OIL and Coal India Ltd. Sri.
Tridib Hazarika and Sri. Jugal Kr Borah showed exemplary commitment towards the
cause of nature conservation by effecting complete withdrawal from the official
Lease permits of OIL and Coal India Ltd., to extract petroleum and coal from
the entire area of the Joypur Reserve Forest as a mark of corporate responsibility
towards the conservation of the largest rainforest of Assam. Sri. Soumyadeep
Datta has put forth this landmark decisions of Oil India Ltd., and Coal India
Ltd., in this book for the people of Assam because everyone ought to know about
this contribution of the two major fossil-fuel based companies of Assam,
towards the rainforest conservation movement of Assam as well as towards the
conservation of Brahmaputra valley’s richest surviving forest area. Sri. Datta
drew everyone’s attention towards the political support gained from the BJP led
state governments of Assam in protecting the pristine Joypur Reserve Forest as
part of the Dihing Patkai National Park. His eloquent narration provides an
overview of the change of political approach towards forest conservation in
Assam, as seen under the leadership of BJP elect Chief Ministers of Assam in
the past few years since 2016; this began with the former Chief Minister of
Assam Sri. Sarbananda Sonowal who took initiative to upgrade the status of
Dihing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary to Dihing Patkai National Park and effected
the preliminary notification for the declaration of Dihing Patkai National Park
with an area expansion to include the Joypur Reserve Forest within its control
in December 2020, and continues to get strengthened under the able leadership
of the present Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma who has gifted the world with
one of the richest protected areas of India right after assuming his charges as
the Chief Minister of Assam by declaring the creation of Dihing Patkai National
Park with its final notification on 15th June 2021. These two Chief
Ministers of Assam will be forever remembered for their contribution to the
biodiversity conservation movement of Assam, they have paved a new dawn of
green governance in Assam and Northeast India.
Sri. Soumyadeep Datta mentioned the names of many political leaders, and
public figures who have contributed to this movement with their priceless
support towards the cause, this includes – Sri. Phanindra Nath Sarma, General
Secretary of BJP, Sri. Pramod Kalita, Secretary of Publication Board of Assam,
Sri. Pabitra Margherita, Spokesperson of BJP, Sri. Jayanta Malla Barua,
Director of Assam Tourism and Development Corporation, and Sri. Parimal Suklabaidya,
Forest Minister of Assam. Sri. Datta has also mentioned about the rich
contributions of many forest officials who have wholeheartedly supported the
conservation of this rainforest, like Sri. Arabinda Madhav Singh, Principal Chief
Conservator of Forests, Sri. Pradipta Barua, Divisional Forest Officer –
Dibrugarh div, Sri. Ashikur Rahman, ex Divisional Forest Officer – Digboi, and Sri.
T. S. Ranjit Ram, Divisional Forest Officer – Digboi. Sri. Soumyadeep Datta has
expressed deep gratitude to the sea of people that strengthened this movement
with their invaluable support, including several organizations, journalists,
intellectuals, dramatists, actors, artists, writers, physicians, social
workers, students, youth, and nature lovers from across Assam and different
parts of India. Sri. Datta has highlighted the fact that the Nature’s Beckon
led rainforest conservation movement of Assam have succeeded to give a decisive
turn to the future conservation of Assam’s largest rainforest patch because of
the political support from the BJP led state government in Assam towards the
cause, the declaration of the Dihing Patkai National Park would have been a
distant dream without this political support.
This book is published by VISTAAR, Kolkata, this is the maiden Assamese language publication from this reputed publishing house of Kolkata. This is a beautiful book, from the captivating cover picture of the panoramic Dihing Patkai National Park to its pages adorned with fully coloured pictures of flora, fauna, landscape, and conservation activities from inside the Dihing Patkai National Park makes it a priced possession for the nature lovers. It carries useful information on the mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects, and flora of this rainforest. It also provides informative narratives of Sri. Datta on different aspects of the Dihing Patkai National Park apart from its history, viz; the ecotourism potential and biodiversity of Dihing Patkai National Park. The book consists of fifteen chapters apart from checklists of flora, fauna, and a list of books so far published by Sri. Soumyadeep Datta. This valuable book is been dedicated to the undying inspiration of Assam’s respected intellectual Late Homen Borgohain, who guided Nature’s Beckon with his priceless support to the Rainforest conservation movement and other work all through his life. The book carries a heartwarming forward from the Honorable Chief Minister of Assam Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma. Dr. Sarma pens his words in encouragement for the exemplary work of Nature’s Beckon in guiding the future generations of Assam for Nature conservation. He appreciates the visionary work of Sri. Soumyadeep Datta in giving a decisive direction to the biodiversity conservation movement in Assam with significant milestones like the Rainforest conservation movement of Assam. This book was formally inaugurated during a seminar on ‘Rainforests of Assam and Dihing Patkai National Park’, as part of the ‘World Rainforests Day’ celebration by Assam Science Technology and Environment Council in collaboration with Nature’s Beckon at Bigyan Bhawan, Guwahati on 24th June 2024 in the presence of Dr. Joydeep Barua, Director- ASTEC and many respected social activists, writers, scientists, environment activists, photographers, and civil society representatives of Assam. This book is currently available for purchase in J. B. Book stall, Panbazar – Guwahati. This is a must read for everyone in Assam because our pride in the name of Dihing Patkai National Park will remain incomplete and vague if we do not understand the history of this unique forest, and the conservation history of the Dihing Patkai National Park is equally important as its natural history. Nature’s Beckon is fully committed to carry forward the spirit of the rainforest conservation movement of Assam, for this movement will continue to ensure the preservation of this rainforest of Assam in the coming years. The area of the present Dihing Patkai National Park will expand in due course of time as per the Wildlife Protection Act of India, more areas of this rainforest will be included in the protected area but the mind movement amongst the fringe communities, amongst our future generations must grow alongside to build an effective conservation model for this priceless natural heritage of Assam. Long live Dihing Patkai National Park. Long live Nature’s Beckon led Rainforest Conservation Movement of Assam.
