By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Eight-year-old Indian climate activist, Licypriya Kangujam, frequented the Parliament during the monsoon sessions with vigour, demanding of the government to take stringent measures to tackle climate change.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Saturday, the Manipur-born activist said that she even met Congress MP, Shashi Tharoor, prior to the lockdown, asking the latter to raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha monsoon session.
“I even protested outside his house recently, asking him to fulfil his promise of raising the issue related to climate change in the Parliament,” she said.
However, the Congress MP has sent her a letter stating that he was unable to raise the issues in the monsoon session of the Parliament as the session was prematurely wound up.
It may be mentioned that Licypriya had also addressed the world leaders at the United Nations Climate Conference 2019 (COP25) in Madrid, Spain, last year, with regard to the same issue.
On the protest outside the Parliament, the 8-year-old activist said she was initially “scared” due to police intrusion.
“Many policemen tried to stop me. When it happened for the first time, I was scared but after many instances, now I don’t feel scared of them anymore,” a determined Kangujam said.
“I want our leaders to act on climate change and save our planet as well as our future,” she added.
Stating that there are other MPs who have stood by her demands, Kangujam said she plans to further raise this issue at the global-level with her counterparts. “There are many other online programmes. I’ll keep raising the issue with my climate activist friends and Shashi Tharoor as well,” she said.
Licypriya had, in a recent statement, also placed forth some measures to tackle the climate change.
“In India, there are over 350 million students. If 350 million students plant minimum 10 trees every year then India will plant 3.5 billion trees a year. India can be green in next 5-10 years; and also, if the government includes climate change as a compulsory subject in the school curriculum then climate change can be fought from the grassroots level, which will help India in achieving net zero-carbon emissions by 2030 to fulfil its promise of Paris Climate Agreement,” the 8-year-old said in a statement.
When asked about the contentious draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), 2020, she said her views on the issue were unclear for the time being.
Climate change has been a burning topic ever since the central government released the draft EIA with many pressure groups from Meghalaya writing to the government, giving the thumbs down to the move. While some sought its repeal, others have opposed the draft EIA 2020 vehemently.