While the Twitter world was going gaga over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s International Women’s Day initiative ‘She Inspires Us’, Licypriya Kangujam, an 8-year-old climate activist, turned down the offer to join the initiative as no leader paid heed to her demands about climate change over the years.
Speaking to the media, Kangujam revealed that she was happy and equally sad when she learned about the invite but eventually had to turn it down to put the issue of climate change at the forefront. She also went onto express her disappointment over the lack of actions taken by the politicians despite numerous protests in front of the parliament and across the country.
In June last year, post her protest in front of the parliament, seven Members of Parliament moved a calling attention motion on her demands but Prakash Javadekar, the minister of Environment and Climate Change showed complete disregard to her demands as he went onto assert that India will not bow down to international pressure on the issue of Climate change.
Kangujam is often compared to Greta Thunberg, the award-winning Swedish teenage climate change activist and is even called as the Indian ‘Greta’.
For her activism, in 2019, Kangujam has conferred the Rising Star by Earth Day Network, the Washington DC-based network. Upon receiving the honor, she made her demands clear and urged the government to enact a law to regulate carbon emissions and other subsequent greenhouse gases. A law addressing climate change will bring transparency, she said.
One of her demands includes an appeal to include climate change as a compulsory subject in schools to educate children who will eventually be the ones to inherit the climate we live behind. A student, in order to successfully clear an exam, should be required to plant at least three trees, she believes. If this is done, according to her, we would have at least 3.5 billion trees a year accounting for the young population of India.
Licypriya is on a mission to make the country greener in the next five years. She believes awareness alone cannot bring about a change in the system but policies centered on our environment possess the necessary potential to achieve our goal to make this place a better place to live.
By turning down Prime Minister’s campaign, Licypriya has been successful in bringing the focus back to climate change, a matter of utmost concern which is demanding our attention every day.
