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A Rapper's Quest To Save Assam's Forests - Using Hip-Hop To Highlight Coal Mining, Other Depredations
A Rapper's Quest To Save Assam's Forests - Using Hip-Hop To Highlight Coal Mining, Other Depredations
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Devajit Moran
Highlights
■ Devajit Moran is a vocal critic of coal mining at Assam’s Dehing Patkai Elephant
Reserve.
■ He raps about injustices against the environment, forests and tribal communities.
When Devajit Moran returned to his hometown Digboi in upper Assam, he wasn't
quite sure what he wanted to do in life. With a diploma in plastic processing
technology from CIPET Guwahati, Moran had worked in New Delhi for a while
before moving back home in 2012. Back then, a few of his seniors were involved in
environmental activism and had started to speak out against deforestation in the
region. Moran's seniors encouraged him to join in but he was sceptical: taking up
a job, as he points out, is the norm in society. Despite these doubts, Moran joined
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his seniors and became a part of Green Bud Society, an NGO that rescues and cares
for injured or sick wild animals, so that they can be released back to the wild.
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A decade has passed since that phase of nervousness in Moran. Today, the 30-
year-old is not only a vocal critic of policies against coal mining at Assam's
Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve – one of India's largest rainforests, he is also a
hip-hop artist who goes by the moniker Green D – rapping about injustices
against the environment, forests and tribal communities. Reflecting on a popular
Assamese slogan–"jati, mati, bheti" meaning "community, land and base",
Moran said these "empty" slogans make no sense if the forests and its wildlife are
endangered due to the greed of a few. "Soon there will be nothing left for the jati,"
he told me over a phone call.
This candid, blunt and outspoken attitude of Moran can be found in his songs. For
instance, in his 2019 song 'Rajniti', he raps about human suffering being used as a
political tool.
"Rajniti maya moh eribore hol/dekhor jonota aji jagibore hol/jati dhormo
nirbhikheke ek hobor hol," he raps, which roughly translates to "It's time to give
up your petty politics/it's time for the people to rise/it's time for communal and
religious bigotry to end."
The song received more than 8,000 views on YouTube and Moran said it was
appreciated by a lot of people. So far, he has recorded nine tracks, out of which,
two have been released as music videos – 'Mafia' and 'Kolahira'.
***
In 'Mafia', the video begins with Moran walking on a street with tall trees on
either side. As the song progresses, it becomes clear that the entire video has been
shot inside a dense forest. But Moran raps that none of these forests, especially
the forests around Dehing Patkai National Park would eventually remain due to
excessive cutting of trees and hills. Take the example of Namphai reserve forest,
which is spread over 2,117 hectares, and falls under Upper Dehing rainforest
within Jagun forest range. "So many trees have been cut, that forest is now
barren…" Moran lamented.
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2/25/22, 11:52 PM A rapper's quest to save Assam's forests: Using hip-hop to highlight coal mining, other depredations
Deforestation has affected both animals and local communities, Moran told me.
"It is an elephant corridor and due to deforestation, they are forced to move
towards human habitation. The issue of human-elephant conflict is always
ongoing and there seems to be no respite."
***
National Park is spread over 234.26 square kilometres inside the reserve. It is
home to 47 species of mammals and reptiles, as well as 310 species of butterfly.
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The park and reserve made national headlines in April 2020, after the National
Board for Wildlife granted clearance for a coal mining project in the Saleki
proposed reserve forest, which falls within Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve. The
move triggered a public outcry. Those against it launched a virtual protest and
several hashtags trended on Twitter, including #SaveDehingPatkai and
#SaveAmazonOfEast. The efforts of people like Moran bore some semblance of
success when these hashtags were heard outside the peripheries of their region.
Post these protests, in July 2020, the government of Assam ordered an inquiry
into allegations of illegal mining in the state's Digboi forest division. The division
falls within the larger Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve. In December 2021, Justice
Brojendra Prasad Katakey report details rampant violations by North Eastern
Coalfields, or NEC, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited, which is a Central
government-owned company and the world's largest coal miner. "Local people
think I am crazy or I am loud and they try to make fun of me but the recent
Katakey committee report proved that things are not all right at Dehing Patkai,"
Moran said.
***
'Kolahira', his other popular track, has a similar mood to 'Mafia', but is more
direct about how for years, Assam's rainforests in and around the Dehing Patkai
National Park have been bearing the brunt of coal mining, both illegal and legal.
Apart from the impact on the biodiversity of the ecologically sensitive area, the
tribal communities of the region have suffered due to repeated displacement and
pollution. "I have seen big trucks arrive, load and unload. They have encroached
upon lands to make their industries, they have cut down trees and hills without
any government permission and restriction."
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Moran and a few of his friends who also help him with the production of the songs
have established a small studio in Digboi. The production has so far been
"independently"
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editing for instance is done by a friend of Moran's based in Kolkata.
The hip-hop music movement that originated in the United States in the 1970s
has gained momentum in India in the last few years. Moran's group is known as
Junglee gang, although he said that they are not inspired by the famous Indian
rapper Divine's company, Gully Gang. "They grew up in the gullies of Mumbai,
maybe that's why they call themselves the gully gang. We grew up in the forests
of Digboi, so we're the junglee gang."
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