Assam: Environmentalist Jadav Payeng seeks lockdown to restore ecosystem balance

Padma Shri awardee environmentalist Jadav Payeng has urged global leaders to declare a week-long lockdown in order to restore ecological equilibrium. 

He made this request while speaking during the ongoing Bodoland International Knowledge Festival in Kokrajhar.

'In would like to request the 800 crore people of the planet to think towards striking a balance of the ecosystem. I feel if we can give a lockdown for a week in a year globally, the balance of the ecosystem will be back gradually. I am saying this from my personal experience,'' Payeng said.

The four-day knowledge festival is being organized by Bodoland University with active support from the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) government.

Payeng also said that he had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to preserve forests and green cover in India.

''I have personally written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that we can't bring development by destroying forests. We must safeguard our forests and nature. The development at the cost of nature is a curse,'' he added.

He also advocated 60 per cent reservation for women and said, "Women are essential in developing human resources. And eventually, that will assist in maintaining the ecosystem's balance''.

During his address, Payeng also recalled his early years when he first began to plant trees in 1979, which after 30 years grew into a sizable forest.

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