Mumbai: Greenpeace India will launch a make-believe Republic of Junglistan today to tell people in cities that it is time they woke up and took note of the unprecedented scale of destruction of central India's rich forests for coal mining projects.
As the Indian government generously hands out environmental clearances for the coal mining industry and the threat to "our rich and biologically diverse forests looms large, we thought the creation of an imaginary Junglistan, inspired by Jungle Book, the timeless tale by Rudyard Kipling, would help mobilise public opinion against rampant mining," Hozefa Merchant, Greenpeace, told Gulf News.
Symbolism
The nationwide drive in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Nagpur will encourage people's support, particularly students, for the campaign by providing them with citizenship of Junglistan. "We invite everyone to join the inauguration of the Embassy of Junglistan where Baloo and Sheru will hand out passports to this newly-found republic," he says.
While the symbolism of Junglistan is expected to evoke a lot of interest, Greenpeace hopes to pinpoint the realities at the ground level — that the corporate argument of environmental regulations throttling the country's growth is a myth.
As the Indian government generously hands out environmental clearances for the coal mining industry and the threat to "our rich and biologically diverse forests looms large, we thought the creation of an imaginary Junglistan, inspired by Jungle Book, the timeless tale by Rudyard Kipling, would help mobilise public opinion against rampant mining," Hozefa Merchant, Greenpeace, told Gulf News.
Symbolism
The nationwide drive in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Nagpur will encourage people's support, particularly students, for the campaign by providing them with citizenship of Junglistan. "We invite everyone to join the inauguration of the Embassy of Junglistan where Baloo and Sheru will hand out passports to this newly-found republic," he says.
While the symbolism of Junglistan is expected to evoke a lot of interest, Greenpeace hopes to pinpoint the realities at the ground level — that the corporate argument of environmental regulations throttling the country's growth is a myth.
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