Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

6. Climate Activism

6.1 A majority of people in India say they would be willing to participate in social demonstrations to demand action on global warming.

A majority of people in India (73%) say that, if a person they like and respect asked them to, they would be willing to participate in social demonstrations – such as strikes, gheraos, rasta rokos, or bandsThese refer to popular forms of political protest in India, and can be translated as “sit-ins” (gheroas), “blocking roads” (rasta rokos), and “blockades” (bands). – to demand that leaders in India take action to reduce global warming. This includes 58% who say they “definitely would” and 15% who say they “probably would” do so. By contrast, about one-quarter of people in India say they “probably would not” (5%) or “definitely would not” (20%) do so, while 2% say they do not know.

6.2 About one in six people in India have participated in a social demonstration related to global warming in the past year.

About one in six people in India (16%) say in the past year, they have participated in social demonstrations – such as strikes, gheraos, rasta rokos, or bands – to demand that leaders in India take action to reduce global warming.