Licypriya Kangujam

Licypriya Kangujam
At the United Nations Asia-Pacific Climate Week in Bangkok, 5 September 2019
Born
Licypriya Kangujam

(2011-10-02) 2 October 2011
Bashikhong, Manipur, India
Occupation(s)Student, environmental activist
Years active2018-present
Parent(s)Bidyarani Devi Kangujam Ongbi (mother), Kanarjit Kangujam Singh (father)

Licypriya Kangujam (born 2 October 2011) is a person from Manipur, India who speaks about climate change.[1] She spoke at a big UN meeting about climate change in Madrid in 2019. Some people called her "India's Greta Thunberg", but she did not want that name.[2]

Reporters found that her father, Kanarjit Kangujam Singh, ran her social media and made up many of her awards. He was put in jail in 2021 for lying and stealing money from people.[3][4] From 2023, she has also publicly supported an armed group in Manipur called Arambai Tenggol. Amnesty International said this group hurt and killed people from the Kuki-Zo community.[5] She also raised money online to buy weapons for the group.[6]

Early life

Licypriya was born on 2 October 2011 in Bashikhong, Manipur. Her family is Meitei. In 2018, she went to a UN meeting in Mongolia with her father. After that, she started speaking about climate change and made a group called the "Child Movement".[7] Reporters later found that her father ran her social media and public activities the whole time.[3][4]

Climate activism

In June 2019, Licypriya stood outside the Indian parliament for a week. She asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a law about climate change.[8]

In December 2019, she spoke at a big UN climate meeting in Madrid called COP25. She met the head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, and gave him a letter written for children. Spain and a climate group paid for her trip.[4]

In January 2020, she signed a letter with Greta Thunberg and other young people. The letter asked world leaders to stop giving money to oil and gas companies.[9]

She also asked for climate change to be taught in all Indian schools. The state of Gujarat later added climate change to its school lessons.[10] Some people said this change was not because of her.[11]

In December 2023, she walked onto the stage at a big UN climate meeting in Dubai called COP28. She held a sign that said "End fossil fuels. Save our planet and our future." Guards removed her and she said she was then banned from the event.[12]

Her father's lies and crimes

Running her accounts

Her father ran her social media accounts and set up all her public appearances.[3][4] Her accounts needed a parent to be in charge of them. At a protest in Bengaluru in 2020, he told her to say she had organised it. He then put photos on her accounts to make it look like she was the leader.[4]

Her father also ran a group called the International Youth Committee (IYC). In 2015 he held a "World Youth Summit" and lied to the press that it was a UNESCO event.[4][3]

In March 2020, a group of young activists wrote to the government. They said her father was using her for his own gain.[3] She had also been taken out of school for at least a year to do protest activities.[3]

Made-up awards

A newspaper called the Imphal Free Press said the awards she got before 2020 were either made up or given by groups her father controlled.[4][13] She said she was asked to speak at a UN event in Geneva in 2019. A UN worker later said this was not true.[13]

Her father said in a talk that he was a professor at Harvard University. This was a lie. He also said his groups worked with the UN and UNESCO. This was also not true.[14][4] He used logos of big international groups to make fake events look real. He took money from students for trips to Japan, Europe, and Mauritius that never happened.[3][14]

Arrest

On 31 May 2021, her father was arrested in New Delhi. A student from Nepal said he had taken his money through the IYC and given nothing back.[15] A court in Manipur had already been looking for him since 2016 for other crimes.[15]

About 100 young people from 12 countries said he had taken their money for events that never took place.[14][4] He spent eight months in jail before he was let out.[4]

Police also looked into a fundraiser in Licypriya's name that raised about 1 crore rupees (about US$130,000) to buy oxygen machines during COVID-19. An associate of her father was found selling machines that were meant to be given away for free.[16]

A child rights body sent her case to a welfare group to check that she was safe.[16]

Support for an armed group

In May 2023, fighting broke out between groups of people in Manipur. More than 258 people died and more than 60,000 had to leave their homes.[17]

After this, Licypriya wrote on Facebook: "I support Arambai Tenggol. More power to you all."[18] Amnesty International said Arambai Tenggol attacked, sexually hurt, and killed people from the Kuki-Zo community.[5] Human Rights Watch said the group got help from the state government.[17] The Jamestown Foundation said the group grew four times bigger during the fighting. Its members stole guns from police, burned churches and villages, and wore stolen police uniforms.[19]

She took photos with group members and with its leader, who police were already looking into for stealing weapons.[20][4] She wrote online that the Kuki-Zo people were a danger to all of India. Most of her posts about the fighting were written in the Meitei language, so her followers in other countries could not read them.[4]

Buying weapons

In December 2023, just after the COP28 climate meeting, she asked people online to give her money to buy a heat-sensing drone worth about 700,000 rupees (about US$8,500). She wrote that the drone was needed for "entering war" and would help reduce deaths in fighting. She posted her own payment details so people could send money.[6][21]

In early 2024, she gave drones and other military items to Arambai Tenggol.[4] Kuki-Zo community groups said the drones were used to attack their villages. They said it was not fair that she was not arrested, while a Kuki-Zo young person had been arrested quickly for doing something similar.[22] Her drone fundraising was written about in a study in a science journal about the Manipur conflict.[23]

Climate groups around the world mostly did not say anything about her actions in Manipur. She kept being invited to big events, including a meeting with Pope Francis in Rome, while also raising money for an armed group.[4] In November 2024, Facebook stopped people in India from seeing her account.[24]

Child welfare concerns

In 2021, a child rights official in Manipur said that if Licypriya had been used by her father, she should be treated as a child who needs help and care. After talking to the family, he said he did not find proof of this, but that further checks were not his job.[4] A child rights group in Manipur asked for someone to talk to Licypriya and help her. They were worried about how all of this was affecting her.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Sudevan, Praveen (2020-11-30). "India should make climate education compulsory: Nine-year-old activist Licypriya Kangujam". The Hindu.
  2. ↑ Banerji, Annie (2020-02-08). "Don't call me India's Greta Thunberg and erase my story: Eight-year-old Licypriya Kangujam". Scroll.in.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Murky world of 9-yr-old activist Licypriya's dad". ThePrint. 2021-06-01.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Sitlhou, Makepeace (2025). "The Real Story Behind "India's Greta Thunberg"". Lux Magazine.
  5. 1 2 "India: Authorities missing-in-action amid ongoing violence in Manipur". Amnesty International. 2024-07-17.
  6. 1 2 "Licypriya Kangujam Seeks Crowdfunding To Acquire Thermal Drone". Ukhrul Times. January 2024.
  7. ↑ "India climate activist Licypriya Kangujam on why she took a stand". BBC News. 2020-02-06.
  8. ↑ "Aged 7, Licypriya Kangujam stands outside Parliament". Mirror Now. 2019-06-22.
  9. ↑ Greta Thunberg; et al. (2020-01-10). "At Davos we will tell world leaders to abandon the fossil fuel economy". The Guardian.
  10. ↑ "How I became an 8-year-old climate activist". BBC. 2020-02-04.
  11. ↑ "Harvard University and DW News had published misinformation by Licypriya Kangujam". Satyaagrah. 2021-06-05.
  12. ↑ Raunaq Lekhi (2023-12-12). "'End Fossil Fuels': Indian Protester, 12, Dashes On To The Stage At COP28". NDTV. Wikidata Q123760920. Archived from the original on 2023-12-12.
  13. 1 2 "8-year-old activist Licypriya accused of faking achievements". ThePrint. 2020-03-08.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Pundir, Pallavi (2021-06-02). "Is the Father of 'India's Greta Thunberg' Scamming Other Child Activists?". Vice.com.
  15. 1 2 "KK Singh, father of Licypriya Kangujam, arrested for forgery". ThePrint. 2021-05-31.
  16. 1 2 "Licypriya's oxygen fundraiser under probe, father booked in 4th case". ThePrint. 2021-06-18.
  17. 1 2 "India: Ethnic Clashes Restart in Manipur". Human Rights Watch. 2025-03-27.
  18. ↑ "I support Arambai Tenggol: Licypriya Kangujam". Ukhrul Times. 2023.
  19. ↑ "Arambai Tenggol: The Meitei Militia Threatening India's Manipur State". Jamestown Foundation. 2024.
  20. ↑ "Bullets And Beats: How A Radical Militant Group Wooed Manipuri Youth". BOOM. 2024-09-26.
  21. ↑ Colney, Kimi (2024-11-21). "Is child activist Licypriya Kangujam fueling violence in Manipur?". EastMojo.
  22. ↑ "This is a betrayal of justice: ITLF, COTU". Northeast Live. 2025-02-28.
  23. ↑ Kipgen, K. Thangjalen; Ganie, Mohd Tahir (2025). "Implications of Ethnic Conflict in Manipur for India's National Security". Journal of Asian and African Studies. doi:10.1177/02627280261419959.
  24. ↑ "Teen Activist Licypriya Kangujam's Facebook Account Restricted". Times of India. 2024-11-20.
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