The TLDR: Nine-year old Licypriya Kangujam has long been hailed as the ‘Greta Thunberg’ of India. But the arrest of her father reveals that she may have been a pawn (or participant?) in his con game.

Researched by: Sara Varghese and Ragini Puri

Remind me about Licypriya…

She is a nine-year-old climate activist from Manipur who first caught the media’s attention when she staged a vigil outside the Parliament in 2019—calling for stricter climate change laws. Inevitable comparisons were drawn to Greta Thunberg—who started out doing exactly the same thing, which later became the Fridays for Future school strike. 

Soon after, Kangujam was invited to address world leaders at the United Nations Climate Conference in December 2019 in Madrid (watch her speech here). She was again hailed as ‘Greta of the Global South’ in the Spanish press. And her rhetoric has been remarkably similar:

“Why should I come here? Why I should speak here? I have to go to my school. I have to read my books. I have to play. I have to study. But our leaders all have ruined my childhood life and my beautiful future. This is not fair!”

But Kangujam has also pushed back against the comparison, saying: "If you call me Greta of India, you are not covering my story… I have my own identity, story.” While not quite as world-famous as Thunberg, she has travelled to 32 countries, given  many TEDx talks, and received a special mention on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.

Point to note: She’s also done a Thunberg in turning down honours or invites to make a point. For example: Last year, she refused the government’s invitation to be a part of the Prime Minister’s #SheInspiresUs social media campaign, tweeting: “Dear @narendramodi Ji, Please don’t celebrate me if you are not going to listen to my voice.”

So what’s this about her father?

Kanarjit Kangujam Singh was arrested on May 30th on charges of forgery and cheating. The arrest, however, turned the spotlight on a long career as a con artist. Singh is the chairman of a dubious organisation known as the International Youth Conference—and the organiser of summits with lofty names, such as Global Youth Meet or World Youth General Assembly. And here’s how his scams typically worked in the past:

The ‘big man’ con: Singh projects a larger than life image—most of it based on forgeries and outright lies. 

• For example, he used to travel in a white Maruti 1000 car with a flag post claiming that he is a representative of the United Nations. 
• His main modus operandi is to collect funds and fees in the name of organising youth summits or relief organisations and pocket the money. 
• Singh often left behind a long trail of unpaid bills to vendors for these so-called summits—and he once tried to sell a building where he was a tenant using forged papers. 
• Singh also duped several self-help groups, hotels and individuals of Rs 1.9 million (19 lakh) in the guise of organising a Global Youth Meet in Imphal—where he presented himself as the director of a so-called ‘UNESCO Youth Foundation’.
• All of which finally caught up with him when he was charged of swindling in 2015, and was declared an “absconder” when he went on the run. 

The ‘precocious kid’ con: After Singh fled Manipur on interim bail—along with his family—he set up International Youth Conference operations in Delhi, which is when his daughter rose to prominence as its protégé. But the shadow of lies dogged her image as well. Singh claimed that his daughter had been invited to speak at a global UN session—which turned out to be a lie, and the evidence presented by Licypriya turned out to be a forgery. Also this:

“Several journalists and activists have also alleged that several of the awards she has been conferred with—including the ‘Peace Award’ by the Global Peace Index—were actually handed out by organisations her father is associated with. The award was handed to her by Charles Allen, the Executive director of Institute for Economics & Peace, in a ceremony in the Maldives. It later came to light that the same award was not conferred by the globally respected agency but that it’s Executive Director was invited to hand over the prize at the ceremony which was hosted by an NGO whose head was also a member of the NGO that her father fronted which is International Youth Conference (IYC).”

The arrest: Singh has been finally arrested on charges that he swindled a number of students—including a Nepali and four Afghans. He took Rs 30,000 per head to attend an exchange program in Europe, which never took place and the money was never refunded. The older 2016 court case will be reopened as well.

So Licypriya is a fraud too? 

Well, she is a child—and has been presented as a climate change icon since she was seven years old. So even disillusioned activists are reluctant to assign blame—viewing her as a victim rather than a criminal:

“She’s made to show up at protests and pose as ‘baby Greta of India’. One needs to look at who is capitalising on this and misrepresenting her as well as our community.”

The picture painted by activists and journalists alike is of a child carefully schooled to parrot lines crafted by her father. 

A potential Covid scam: While there has been no official investigation, serious questions are being raised about Licypriya’s latest effort—to source and distribute oxygen concentrators for desperate Covid patients. 

• Licypriya started a Ketto fundraiser targeting Rs 10 million (1 crore) in donations for 100 concentrators—of which she has raised Rs 7.5 million (75 lakh).
• She has personally reached out to celebrities—like Kunal Kamra, Prakash Raj etc—and politicians like Arvind Kejriwal on social media, asking for their support. And she even received 100 free concentrators from the government of Taiwan.
  But the images of Licypriya’s relief work—of concentrators etc—looked suspiciously similar to cropped images of press photos. 
• The money raised by Licypriya has been given to the Noble Citizen Foundation—which was set up in 2020—to buy and distribute the concentrators. But NCF’s founders have close links to both Singh and his IYC—though they vehemently deny it.
• Last not least: Times of India could not find any evidence of any organisation or individual who received concentrators from NCF. 

The bottomline: There is no greater moral to this tawdry story of greed. We only hope that authorities will ensure that nine-year old Licypriya receives the protection that all children deserve—especially from her own parents. As child rights activists rightly note: “[A] child needs proper care and protection and should be free from criminal elements which may hinder the mental and emotional growth of a child.”

Reading list

Frontier Manipur has the most details on Singh’s career as a conman. Quint offers a deep dive into the Covid scam. The Print offers a good overview of the various scandals that have dogged Licypriya and her father—as does TOI+ but it’s behind a paywall. If you want to get a sense of Licypriya’s image before this scandal broke, check out BBC News or Economic Times.