The Big Story

Why Did FridaysForFuture Group Led by School Students Send A Barrage of Emails to Javadekar?


Listen Later

While Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teen activist, has been celebrated worldwide for her bold movement on climate change, in India an anti-terrorism law was "erroneously" used against students to shut down an online movement on the environment.

The website for the India arm of Fridays For Future or FFF which is the international environmental movement led by Thunberg was blocked. Two notices were sent, first under UAPA on 8 July, and then under the IT Act on 12 July, to the domain hosts alleging depiction of "objectionable contents and unlawful activities or terrorist act".

And why? Because the portal was allegedly used to send a barrage of emails to environment minister Prakash Javadekar’s email address against a proposed change in the environment laws, known as the Draft Environment Impact Assessment or EIA, 2020.

Behind those emails are a bunch of school students who received the notice from the Delhi Police’s cyber crime unit, accusing them of challenging the ‘sovereignty and integrity of India’.

After word got out on social media, on 24 July, the Delhi Police claimed the UAPA charges were a "clerical error" and that the charges under the IT Act were also withdrawn. A little while after, the website also appeared to have been restored. Clerical error or not, what message does it send on censorship and muzzling dissent?

Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha
Guests:
Bahar Dutt, Environment Journalist 
Bhavreen Kandhari, Environmentalist 
Advocate Abhinav Sekhri 
Manju Menon, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research
M Yuvan, Writer & Environmental educator
Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

Listen to The Big Story podcast on:

Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl
Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ
Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng
Castbox: http://bit.ly/2VqZ9ur
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Big StoryBy The Quint

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

17 ratings


More shows like The Big Story

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,908 Listeners

News and Views by The Quint

News and Views

3 Listeners

Raghav's Take by The Quint

Raghav's Take

0 Listeners

How I Dealt With It by The Quint

How I Dealt With It

0 Listeners

Vishnu Ki Secret Life by The Quint

Vishnu Ki Secret Life

2 Listeners

Reel Deal by The Quint

Reel Deal

0 Listeners

Urdunama by The Quint

Urdunama

65 Listeners

Big Story Hindi by The Quint

Big Story Hindi

0 Listeners

Southern Slurp by The Quint

Southern Slurp

1 Listeners

Unmute by The Quint

Unmute

0 Listeners

Hard Fork by The New York Times

Hard Fork

5,461 Listeners