Licypriya Kangujam

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Licypriya Kangujam
Licypriya Kangujam at the United Nations Asia-Pacific Climate Week 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand on 5 September 2019.
Born
Licypriya Kangujam

(2011-10-02) 2 October 2011 (age 12)
Bashikhong Village, Manipur, India
Occupation(s)Student, environmental activist
Years active2018–present
Known forRising Voice to Combat Climate Change
MovementThe Child Movement
Parents
  • Bidyarani Devi Kangujam Ongbi (mother)
  • KK Singh (Kanarjit Kangujam) (father)
RelativesChinglensana Kangujam(Uncle)
Awards
Licypriya Kangujam's voice
Recorded on 6 February 2020 from the BBC Radio World Service Program - How I became an 8-year-old climate activist in London, UK. BBC - OS[1]

Licypriya Kangujam (born 2 October, 2011) is a child environmental activist from India.[2] She is one of the youngest climate activists globally and has addressed world leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2019 (COP25) in Madrid, Spain asking them to take immediate climate action. She has been accused of faking multiple awards to bolster her image.[3][4] Licypriya has been campaigning for climate action in India since 2018, to pass new laws to curb India's high pollution levels, and to make climate-change literacy mandatory in schools.[5][6][7][8][9]

She has been regarded as India's Greta Thunberg, though she does not like the usage of this term.[10] The Times of India published an exclusive report titled “Is India’s Greta Thunberg a pawn in the hands of an unscrupulous father?” on the various controversies surrounding Licypriya.[4] The report exposes the credibility of the awards claimed to be received by Licypriya.[4] Another media outlet has also questioned the credibility of these awards.[3]

Licypriya started advocating against climate change in July 2018.[11] On 21 June 2019 inspired by the climate activist Greta Thunberg, Licypriya started spending a week outside the Indian parliament House to draw the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pass a climate change law in India. On 31 August 2019, Licypriya received the "World Children Peace Prize 2019" handed over by Mr.Charles Allen, Director of Partnerships of Global Peace Index – Institute of Economics & Peace (IEP), Australia in an event organized by the Regional Alliance of Fostering Youth and Ministry of Youth Sports and Community Empowerment, Government of Maldives. However, The Times of India reported, “Even the World Children Peace Prize Award given to Licypriya in 2019 and promoted as an honour granted by the Global Peace Index turned out to be a sham after the Institute for Economics and Peace clarified on Twitter that “we do not issue awards”.[12][4][13]

She was also honored with the title "Rising Star" by the Earth Day Network headquarters based in Washington, D.C., USA.[14][15][16]

On 19 November 2019, she received the "SDGs Ambassador Award 2019" at Chandigarh University by Dainik Bhaskar in collaboration with NITI Aayog, Government of India. Licypriya also received the "Global Child Prodigy Award 2020" on 3 January 2020 in New Delhi by Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry Kiran Bedi.[17]

On 18 February 2020 she addressed the TEDxSBSC held in University of Delhi, New Delhi, India. On 23 February 2020 she addressed the TEDxGateway held in Mumbai and received a standing ovation for her speech. She addressed TEDx talks for the six times by the time she was nine years old.[18][19][20]

Life

Licypriya Kangujam was born on 2 October, 2011 in Bashikhong, Manipur, India, the eldest daughter of Kanarjit Kangujam and Bidyarani Devi Kangujam Ongbi.[21] She began raising her voice to combat climate change and disaster risk reduction, when she was seven. In June 2019, she protested in front of the Parliament House of India addressing the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to enact the climate change law in India.[22][23][24][25] Her father Kanarjit Kangujam Singh was arrested on 31 May 2021 as he had allegedly duped several self-help groups, hotels and individuals of more than Rs 19 lakh for a Global Youth Meet that he had organised in Imphal in 2014.[26] Nearly a hundred children from 12 countries claim Kanarjit Kangujam scammed them.[27]

2018–2019 activism

Kangujam addressing UNESCO Partners' Forum 2019 (Biennial Luanda) in Angola on 20 September 2019.

Visits to Mongolia

In 2018, Licypriya attended a UN disaster conference in Mongolia along with her father. This inspired her to get involved in activism. In an article in the BBC News she stated "I got lots of inspiration and new knowledge from the people giving speeches. It was a life-changing event." Licypriya founded the "Child Movement" soon after the event to raise awareness to protect the planet by tackling climate change and natural disasters.[14]

Visits to Africa

Kangujam attended the UNESCO Partners' Forum 2019 (Biennial Luanda) in Luanda City, Angola invited by UNESCO, African Union & Government of Angola. She addressed on climate change along with President of Angola João Lourenço, President of Mali Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, President of Malawi Hage Geingob, President of Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso, First Lady of Angola Ana Dias Lourenço, First Lady of Namibia Monica Geingos, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2018 Denis Mukwege, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay, Deputy Prime Minister of Guinea Francois Fall and all Culture Ministers of Africa.[28][29][30][31]

Kerala Flood 2018

Licypriya donated her savings of Rupees 100,000 to the Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan on 24 August 2018 to help the flood victim children of Kerala Massive Flood. Two years later she received the acknowledgement letter from the Kerala Government.[32]

Licypriya's donation to the Chief Minister supported their work in protecting children hit by the flood. She felt her small contribution would help make a difference to the children during the tough time.

Great October March 2019

On 21 October 2019, Licypriya started the "Great October March 2019" at India Gate, New Delhi with nearly thousands of her supporters. The Great October March took place from 21 to 27 October in various locations to request immediate action on climate change and to enact the climate law in India.[14][33][34]

Survival Kit for the Future

Licypriya brought out a symbolic device called SUKIFU (Survival Kit for the Future) to curb the air pollution on 4 October 2019. SUKIFU is an almost zero budget kit designed from trash to provide fresh air to breathe when pollution is bad. This wearable plant is a recognition of the Green Movement for air pollution. Anybody can build up this concept at home from the recycling trash to instill fresh air directly into our lungs. She launched it in front of the Punjab & Haryana Legislative Assembly House as a symbol of demonstration before the oath taking ceremony of newly elected Haryana MLAs & Ministers. She draws the attention of the leaders to find urgent solution for the current crisis of air pollution in Delhi & National Capital Region.[35][36] "[37]

Further she added that the project is inspired by the air pollution problem in Delhi, and that she doesn't want its message to only be about the environment. Instead, it's about the same adaptability that caused her to come forward with a mission, the qualities of resilience that it takes to survive now and in the future. She developed the model with the support of Chandan Ghosh, professor at Indian Institute of Technology Jammu (IIT)."[38]

COP25

Licypriya Kangujam with UN Secretary General António Guterres at the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2019 (COP25) in Madrid, Spain on 12 December 2019.

Licypriya Kangujam addressed at COP25 urging the world leaders to act now on climate change. The United Nations Climate Conference was held to discuss the international action on climate change. 26,000 people from 196 countries attended this event. The event was held from 2 December to 13 December at IFEMA, Madrid, Spain, hosted by Government of Chile with the logistics support Of Government of Spain under the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).[39]

Kangujam met the UN Secretary-General during The UN Climate Change Conference COP25 and submitted a memorandum "on behalf of the children of the world." The memorandum stated that she wants to create a better place for all children of the world. She was praised by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Greta Thunberg and several other global leaders participated during the event. [40]

2020 activism

World Economic Forum 2020

In 2020, Licypriya published a letter to the participants at the World Economic Forum with activists Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer, Isabelle Axelsson, and Loukina Tille, calling on companies, banks and governments to immediately stop subsidizing fossil fuels. In an opinion piece given to The Guardian they said, "We don't want these things done by 2050, 2030 or even 2021, we want this done now – as in right now. We call upon the world’s leaders to stop investing in the fossil fuel economy that is at the very heart of this planetary crisis. Instead, they should invest their money in existing sustainable technologies, research and in restoring nature. Short-term profit should not trump long-term stability of life."[41][42]

Campaign for teaching climate change in schools

She has been campaigning to make lessons in climate change mandatory in schools and as per her request the government of Gujarat has included climate change in school education.[43]

Earth Day 2020

In 2020 Licypriya addressed the gatherings globally on Earth Day 2020 at Washington, D.C., United States. The event was virtual, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She featured with 50 other global leaders, influencers, celebrities, athletes and musicians including Pope Francis, Sylvia Earle, Denis Hayes, Bill McKibben, Global Advisory Committee Member Albert II (Price of Monaco), Alexandria Villaseñor, Al Gore, Patricia Espinosa, Christiana Figueres, Michelle Dilhara, Jerome Foster II, John Kerry, Thomas Lovejoy, Ed Begley Jr., Zac Efron, Anil Kapoor, Van Jones, Ricky Keij, Paul Nicklen and Alex Honnold, giving a message of hope to fight the ongoing climate crisis.[44][45]

Controversy

In an exclusive report done by The Times of India in June 2021, it was revealed that all of Licypriya’s awards from her initial days were given to her by her father’s organisations.[4][12] The report says, “Turns out, several of the “coveted” awards that Licypriya won such as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Children Award or the India Peace Prize 2019 Award were, in fact, by her father’s organisation, IYC and its members. Even the World Children Peace Prize Award given to Licypriya in 2019 and promoted as an honour granted by the Global Peace Index turned out to be a sham after the Institute for Economics and Peace clarified on Twitter that “we do not issue awards”.[12][13]

In June 2021, Licypriya was in the news as a crowdfunding appeal on Ketto seeking one crore rupees to buy 100 oxygen concentrators came under scrutiny following the arrest of her father and legal guardian Kangujam Karnajit, on May 31, 2021.[46][47] Her father, also known as KK Singh, was declared an absconder and had fled Manipur in 2016 after he was arrested and let out on interim bail following multiple charges.[48] These charges were for duping several self-help groups, hotels and individuals of more than Rs 19 lakh for a Global Youth Meet that he had organised in Imphal in 2014. His latest arrest was for fresh charges relating to his chairmanship of the International Youth Committee, an organisation founded by him. Several national and international students have been deceived of money amounting to around Rs 3 crore on the pretext of fees for multiple international youth exchange programs, that were never organised.[49]

Relating to the crowdfunding appeal on Ketto, Laxmi K, who works on climate action and was aware of prior allegations related to her fathers activities, initiated contact with Ketto requesting due diligence.[46] Further concerns around the Ketto crowd funding drive was flagged by political activist Angellica Aribam, a day after Paojel Chaoba of The Frontier Manipur broke a story on 19 May on how the Ketto donation drive by the child activist could be a possible scheme to defraud people by her father.[50] In an email written to Varun Sheth of Ketto, Angellica asked whether the Noble Citizen Foundation, the agency that was being handed the money collected from the donation drive had any credibility and if Ketto was certain there were no connections with the child's father. However, she never received any response.

It is now widely accepted that both Licypriya and her father used deceitful methods to hog the limelight and generate favourable publicity. The father and the daughter were caught exaggerating their manipulated accomplishments and using run-of-the-mill acknowledgements from reputed organisations to spin a web of lies around their achievement.[51]

On June 5, 2021, Harvard International Review, which had earlier interviewed Licypriya issued a statement saying "In light of Kangujam's father's arrest in India, the Harvard International Review reiterates its policy of not endorsing the contents of any interview. Interviews inherently reflect subjective views of the interviewee. The interview reflects the views of Kangujam exclusively..[52]

See also

References

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  2. ^ Sudevan, Praveen (2020-11-30). "India should make climate education compulsory: Nine-year-old activist Licypriya Kangujam". The Hindu.
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  4. ^ a b c d e "Is India's Greta Thunberg a pawn in the hands of an unscrupulous father? - Times of India". The Times of India.
  5. ^ "Meet Licypriya Kangujam, the 8-yr-old Indian 'Greta' who is urging leaders at COP25 to save the planet". The Economic Times. 2019-09-20. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
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  8. ^ "Meet Licypriya Kangujam, the 8-yr-old Indian 'Greta' who is urging leaders at COP25 to save the planet". The Economic Times. 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  9. ^ "Home". licypriyakangujam.com.
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  11. ^ Licypriya Kangujam [@LicypriyaK] (2020-01-27). "Dear Media, Stop calling me "Greta of India". ..." (Tweet). Retrieved 2020-05-13 – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ a b c https://twitter.com/mohuadazz/status/1401383869845282821 [bare URL]
  13. ^ a b https://twitter.com/globpeaceindex/status/1221873299870715904 [bare URL]
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  28. ^ "Biennale of Luanda - Pan-African Forum for the culture of peace". UNESCO. 2019-09-20. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
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  30. ^ "Licypriya Kangujam met with The President of Namibia". India Education Diary. 2019-09-20. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
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  46. ^ a b Ahanthem, Chitra (2021-06-05). "How A Dubious Crowdfund Was Started in A 9-Yr-Old Activist's Name". TheQuint. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  47. ^ Sirur, Simrin (2021-05-31). "KK Singh, father of 9-yr-old climate activist Licypriya Kangujam, arrested for 'forgery'". ThePrint. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  48. ^ Mohua Das (2021-05-31). "On the run since 2016, child activist Licypriya Kangujam's father arrested from Delhi | India News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  49. ^ "Licypriya Kangujam's father KK Singh arrested on cheating and forgery charges: Here's all you need to know about him". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
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  51. ^ "Manipur 'activist' Licypriya Kangujam's fugitive father arrested in Delhi". EastMojo. 2021-05-31. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
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External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Licypriya_Kangujam&oldid=1117555739"