Hundreds of students in cities all over India skipped schools and colleges on May 24 to demand action on climate change from the government. While activists and students in Delhi demanded reduction of vehicles from the road, protesters in Bengaluru called to declare a climate emergency as well as reduce the consumption of plastic. People from 14 locations in India participated in the protest including Gurugram, Hyderabad, Pune, Varanasi and Ladakh.
Mrudula Joshi, an organiser and volunteer at Fridays for Future in Mumbai, told The Hindu,
“This march is a cry of frustration from the younger generation. We may not know much about policy making, but we sure do know that we’re doing something wrong right now.”
Ankita Lal, a 14-year-old student from Delhi, told TOI,
“At 16, Greta has been named as one of the world’s most influential teenagers, so even I wanted to do my bit. I came here with my mom to be a part of the rally. I skipped school to be here today. Fridays For Future is an international movement, and children around the world are skipping classes to join it. It feels like we are a part of something bigger.”
They joined hundreds of thousands of students in over 1664 cities across 125 countries who walked out of their schools and colleges to strike. The ‘Fridays for Future’ movement was first started by Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg demanding governments take steps to reduce CO2 emissions.
According to a 2018 report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming is set to cross 1.5°C by 2030.
