JHARKHAND: A round three decades back, Chami Murmu had no idea how she would set her kitchen fire. The land in her sight was nothing but rock soil, where trees wouldn’t grow and whatever firewood she stocked would exhaust in a few days. The last resort was hay and coal. Murmu thought of a plan: plant trees — as many as she could — and ask others to do so.
She has planted more than 28 lakh saplings, beginning from her home, in 32 years. A rich variety of trees has solved the problem of firewood. Besides, Murmu has provided livelihood opportunities to thousands of women by forming 2,800 self-help groups in Jharkhand’s Saraikela-Kharsawan district by forming an NGO, Sahyogi Mahila. “When the saplings grew into young trees, many women like me faced a tough task. People would often chop them off for firewood, making us lose our trees,” says Murmu. With the help of forest department officials, who sent many offenders to jail, she protected her trees and became a household name in the region.
Her efforts to protect trees and her initiative to organise local women earned her the ‘Nari Shakti Samman’ award given by President Ram Nath Kovind in 2020. The women among her 2,800 SHGs are a powerful resource for financing livelihood activities in Jharkhand’s rural areas. These women contribute a meagre amount of `10-20 each. The collection helps anyone in the group to meet one’s financial needs or in starting a livelihood activity such as chicken farming, goat rearing, scientific farming, weaving or in training in one’s field of interest.
“We have come a long way,” says Murmu. “We not only get firewood in abundance, but we also sell wood for furniture. The fruits growing in these trees are sold in markets, enabling us to earn extra,” said Murmu.
Salma Tudu, who has been working with Murmu for five years, says her life changed after she started a nursery in her village. She now earns nearly Rs 12,000 every month from her plants and associated products.
Another woman in her team, Suru Beora, says that after preparing saplings, SHG volunteers shift them to private, village or government land. “The timber-producing trees are generally sold after they grow up. The fruit-bearing trees are preserved over a period of time. Murmu has involved many women in this work,” says SHG secretary Suru Beora.
“Besides planting trees, Chami Mumru has been doing a lot of other social work for rural women by connecting them with SHGs and providing them livelihood opportunities,” says village head of Rajnagar panchayat, Ganesh Deogam.
Local officials say carbon sequestration (the removal of carbon from the atmosphere) has increased and the temperature, at least in that particular area, is being recorded low due to intense plantation done by Chami Murmu. “If you visit the place, you can feel the difference. It is a great effort to protect the environment,” said Jamshedpur forest officer Mamta Priyadarshi.