Greetings!

This World environment day on 5th June in shapur Jatt headquarters we held a green movie screening for underprivilidged children , later on we played a green quiz with them distributed Tulsi pots and treated them with vermicelli with milk and sugar. They really liked the evening and it was a nice break from their regular tuition classes. I would like to say that most children from the movies that was shown in Hindi were fully aware that how plastic is harmful , it causes Cancer and the cow eats it which is making it harmful for both humans and animals and the environment.

The age group was about 3 to 8 years old and they were from rural immigrant families prevailing from UP , Bihar , Rajasthan , Haryana and Punjab most had come to Delhi with their parents in search of livelihoods , so we also talk about migration and the concept of happiness. In one of the movies they talk about work related to climate change and deforestation and how many youngsters from Delhi had moved back to the mountains in Uttarakhand with lesser pay but were happier in clean environment working on climate change and deforestation we taught the children that money doesn’t bring happiness and encouraged them to use jute bags or carry one bag to the supermarket instead of using small polythene bags that are given by shopkeepers or road sellers.

We focus on teaching that behavioural science can lead to climate change, we have one Earth and every person needs to lead. There is a crisis of climate change, there is a crisis of biodiversity loss. By 2050 their will be more plastic in the ocean and fish therefore we must stop mindless destructive consumption and participation for all.

India is a water stressed country we need better groundwater management and we have the largest food distribution system. India will be leading G20 in 2023, out of the 120 countries mentioned by UNDP. With approach on clean energy systems making green energy more affordable , this vision is in line with Vishwadeep trust’s innovative and sustainable innovation systems that we have been providing to the farming community of Ladakh. Very recently, we gave them low carbon systems of a four shaft handloom machine and 10 wood net mesh trayed solar dryers. I attended the launch of LIFE by Prime minister Narendra Modi and Shri Amitabh Kant while it was good to see people who were applauding India for providing the community with the most affordable LED to which we were 9 years before schedule in terms of distribution by reducing 40 million terms of GHG and an income of farmers increased by 5.5 billion dollars. We talked about Mahatma Gandhi zero carbon lifestyle of reduce and reuse however what was really missing and really disheartening was the absence of women participation in the panel during the webcast there were 9 male speakers and one caucasean woman that too from Sweden that harps on gender and environment , she could have stressed for equal participation , I for one have turned down Manels.

They missed out on having any participation from an Indian woman or South Asian or African women or even equal participation of women , however these were the women who were claim to be benefited from their programs and were also that target group, there was mention of asha workers and Anganwadi workers but no representation of women as panelists or speakers. India has more environmentalists, than many other countries we have Dr. Vandana Shiva who is on forefront of eco feminism, globally recognised but she was missing from the panel Sunita Narayan who writes all the green letters of the Prime Minister and all the important leaders when they represent our country abroad for green events. Anubha Prasad, Shailly Kedia, Shrimati Maneka Gandhi, I have been fairly active since 2016 working with the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate change with green grants. Indian Government forgot that prakriti is Janani.

I have seen this on many occasions of manels, poor gender representation and the country has no gender representation policy , also when we question the organisers or even Patriarchs they say things like there are no women. If you really want to celebrate environment day keep our environment strong as Indians there is also anneed to protect our Indian women and represent them not just as a needy group but also represent the green talent , their skills and observations whether it is chipko movement , Ama tsogpa or Medha paatkars involvement in Narmada Bachao Andolan. Our women have taught the world , best practices in preserving the environment but we are often hidden and our work is stolen. There is a symbiotic relationship between Women and the environment , strong co existence that cannot be overlooked.


I hope enjoyed our reading.

Neha Upadhyaya

Indigenous rights activist and social entrepreneur

Vishwadeep Trust