Climate change emergency in India? Petition by Instagrammer gets over 2 lakh signatures

An Instagrammer called "Ted the Stoner" has started a petition calling on the Indian government to declare climate change as an emergency in India. The petition is addressed to Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has already got over 2 lakh signatures within less than a day since it was launched.

It is purportedly inspired by the Extinction Rebellion movement, which mobilised thousands of people in a peaceful civil disobedience campaign that brought parts of central London to a standstill for 11 days in April. The British parliament ultimately declared a symbolic 'climate emergency' in response to the protests.

The Instagrammer who started the petition, "Ted the Stoner", has over 9 lakh followers on his "main" account and also has a backup account with over 1 lakh followers. In the petition, he has expressed concerns about lack of attention given to the climate change in parliament and has also called on people to "come on the streets" to ensure that the government steps up efforts to tackle climate change.