Days after the activist-for-hire Licypriya Kangujam’s father was arrested for duping nearly 100 children from 12 countries under the garb of activism, the deceitful methods employed by the duo to hog limelight and favourable publicity have come to fore. The father and the daughter have been exaggerating their manipulated accomplishments and using run-of-the-mill acknowledgements from reputed organisations to spin a web of lies around their achievement.
A Twitter user named Herin Maru, who goes by Twitter handle @her1n, recently exposed how the hallowed organisations like Harvard University and international media organisation DW News fell for the propaganda peddled by Licypriya and her father and published them without bothering to carry out a basic due-diligence.
Harvard International Review (@HarvardIR) and Deutsche Welle (@dw_environment) published a scripted interview of #LicypriyaKangujam, without any basic fact check.
— Herin (@her1n) June 1, 2021
It’s was due to a PIL by @AdityaDubey2003 & @AmanBanka00, that a new Air Pollution Management law was passed. https://t.co/woMw3mn4Ld pic.twitter.com/Xe3JiyjyAJ
Harvard credits Licypriya as the for India’s Air Pollution Law
In an interview with Harvard, which was published on its website on 7 December 2020 and whose link is mentioned in Licypriya’sTwitter bio, the activist crowed about her role in bringing the Indian government to pass the new Air Pollution Law in 2018.
“I played an important role to bring about this new law to curb the air pollution crisis in Delhi. I protested in front of the President House at midnight on October 15, 2020. I was detained by Delhi police on October 18, 2020. On October 28, 2020, the President of India signed and approved an ordinance to enact this new air pollution law in India in five states,” reads the interview published on Harvard’s website.
Harvard University did not bother to check the claims made by Licypriya and published it verbatim on its website. As it turned out, the claim made by Licypriya did not match the reality. The new Air Pollution Law was passed due to a PIL filed by environmental activists and Class 12 student Aditya Dubey and law student Aman Banka, who sought directions to provide free of cost stubble removing machines to small and marginal farmers to check high particulate matters in the air. Licypriya had no role to play in bringing the new law.
Harvard publishes lies about Licypriya’s father’s educational qualifications
Furthermore, Licypriya also made misleading claims about her father’s educational qualifications in her Harvard interview. She said that her father completed his Masters in Environmental Studies at Nalanda International University.
However, this assertion runs counter to what Manipur journalist Paojel Chaoba claimed in an article published in 2015. Chaoba had cited sources from IGNOU and Manipur University to claim that Licypriya’s father, Dr KK Singh had lied about his educational qualifications.
Licypriya uses govt acknowledgement letter to claim her activism resulted in inclusion of “climate change” in school curriculum
Another lie pertaining to “climate change” being made a permanent subject in school education curriculum was published on Harvard’s website. A routine acknowledgment by Gujarat and Rajasthan government to Licypriya’s demand of mandatorily including “climate change” in the school education was touted by her as a result of her activism.
One more lie published in @HarvardIR.
— Herin (@her1n) June 1, 2021
A simple acknowledgement of the letter, is being claimed that Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc. have agreed to include “climate change” as a compulsory subject.
This lie has been reiterated many times, was debunked earlier👇https://t.co/beIhUjJSHM pic.twitter.com/rHHpZUmx7T
Such letters are routinely handed out by governments to those who write to them, but Licypriya and her father used it to allege that the changes in the school curriculum were made because of their intervention.
In a matter of 9 months, Licypriya planted a staggering 300,000 trees
Another discrepancy in the claims made by Licypriya in her Harvard interview and the reality has surfaced. On March 3, 2020, Licypriya tweeted that she had planted 51,000 trees in her 8 years of existence on earth.
But in just 9 months since then, she was able to plant an astounding 300,000 trees. In her interview with the Harvard University, which was published in December 2020, the activist claimed that she had planted more than 350,000 trees till date.
There is no record of where she planted such a large number of trees, and what is the current status of those plantations.
International media organisation DW News blindly publishes Licypriya
The international news organisation DW News also fell into the trap of lies peddled by activist Licypriya. In an interview that took place on 29 April 2021, Licypriya claimed that she played a pivotal role in the enactment of the new Air Pollution Law.
“The new air pollution law was recently approved and signed by the President of India as an Ordinance to enact in 5 states. It’s my long-pending demand for more than 2 years. Finally, it happened after a petition filed to Supreme Court by one of my colleagues,” a tweet posted by DW News’ official Twitter read as Licypriya saying.
After Twitter user @her1n highlighted Licypriya’s deceitful claim of being responsible for the enforcement of the new air pollution law, DW News responded to the tweet saying they are looking into the matter.
Harvard International Review (@HarvardIR) and Deutsche Welle (@dw_environment) published a scripted interview of #LicypriyaKangujam, without any basic fact check.
— Herin (@her1n) June 1, 2021
It’s was due to a PIL by @AdityaDubey2003 & @AmanBanka00, that a new Air Pollution Management law was passed. https://t.co/woMw3mn4Ld pic.twitter.com/Xe3JiyjyAJ
Soon after Harvard University published its interview on its website, Licypriya added its link on her Twitter bio. Once a venerable institute publishes a feature story or interview on her, Licypriya uses it to the hilt, making sure to add a reference about it in every future communication and to portray herself as a well-renowned climate activist. This is the typical modus operandi employed by Licypriya and her father, who sought recognition from reputed organisations such as Harvard University on the basis of trumped-up achievements and later used their acknowledgements to burnish their manipulated credentials and dupe unsuspecting people.
Licypriya’s father, Dr KK Singh arrested by the police for duping over 100 children
Projecting his 9-year-old daughter as the face of a national and international ‘climate activism’ campaign, Licypriya’s father Kanarjit Kangujam has reportedly duped nearly 100 children from 12 countries under the garb of activism as per a Vice report. The fraud amount is estimated to be approximately $44,685, just from fees collected from students.
As of now, Kangujam Kanarjit has been arrested in a joint operation by Delhi Police and Manipur Police on 31 May and was be produced before the Court.
Kanarjit has been accused of cheating multiple people, with amounts as high as Rs 19 lakh. In 2015, he was arrested in Manipur with charges of criminal case number 176 of 2015 under Section 420 (Fraud), 324 (Assault) and 406 (Criminal breach of trust).
Kanarjit had also invented the fake achievements of daughter Licypriya Kangujam in order to propel her to international fame. In Multiple press investigations and reports, it was found that Licypriya’s so-called UN invite and other attendances were all fake, cunningly drafted and used by her father for media hype.
