On February 14, as the Delhi Police arrested 22-year-old Disha Ravi for her alleged involvement in preparing a Google document that Greta ...
On February 14, as the Delhi Police arrested 22-year-old Disha Ravi for her alleged involvement in preparing a Google document that Greta Thunberg tweeted in support of farmer protests in India, many young climate activists like her felt alarmed, but then came to see it as a validation of their work. In a short time, they say they have achieved enough to rattle the Indian State.
“It frightens them that young people are aware and want to call out the government for inaction on climate change,” said Joel Kyndiah. “So they claim the climate movement is propaganda against India.”
Kyndiah is just 18.
He lives in Shillong and is a national coordinator of Fridays For Future, a global organisation that grew out of Swedish teen activist Thunberg’s climate change campaign. Ravi is among its founders in India.
Since 2018, inspired by Thunberg and a global youth climate movement, informal groups of young Indians like Ravi and Kyndiah have mobilised vocal public campaigns against government projects and policies that threaten the environment, most notably the controversial draft Environment Impact Assessment law of 2020. With over a million letters landing in the inbox of India’s environment minister asking for the draft law to be scrapped, the police served notices under the Unlawful Activities...
