The Minister for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav has launched a mobile application, called “Meri LiFE” (My life). The move aimed to catalyse youth action for climate change as a build-up to World Environment Day on 5 June. The app is inspired by the concept of LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), envisioned by the Prime Minister at the Climate Change Conference (COP26), which emphasises mindful and deliberate utilisation instead of mindless and wasteful consumption.
During the event, Yadav expressed his belief that the “Meri LiFE” app would highlight the significant role of citizens, particularly the youth, in preserving the environment. He emphasised that this application would demonstrate how small actions taken in daily life can lead to significant climate impact. The Minister expressed optimism that the combined efforts of the portal and app would foster a nationwide movement for LiFE.
The Ministry has developed two dedicated portals for LiFE to create a structured reporting format that can track the progress being made on LiFE. The Mission LiFE Portal is open access and can be used to download over 100 creatives, videos, and knowledge materials that have been developed by the ministry for LiFE. The Meri LiFE Portal has been developed for ministries and institutions to upload event reports and capture the progress of the mass mobilisation drive.
Soon more than 100,000 LiFE-related events have taken place across India mobilising over 1.7 million individuals to take pro-planet actions. These include cleanliness drives, bicycle rallies, plantation drives, LiFE marathons, plastic collection drives, composting workshops, and taking a LiFE pledge. Many schools and colleges are also undertaking cultural competitions such as street plays, essays, paintings, and youth parliaments.
The Meri LiFE app serves as a valuable tool to monitor the progress of Mission LiFE. Once users sign up, they will be guided to engage in a range of LiFE-related tasks under five themes: Save Energy, Save Water, Reduce Single-Use Plastic, Adopt Sustainable Food Systems, and Adopt Healthy Lifestyles. Through a gamified approach, the app encourages individuals to take part in the “5 for 5 challenge,” which entails undertaking five LiFE actions leading up to 5 June. The theme of this year’s World Environment Day is Solutions to Plastic Pollution, a topic which aligns with one of the 7 themes of Mission LiFE: “Reducing the use of single-use plastic items”.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is the nodal ministry for national-level coordination and implementation of Mission LiFE. As part of their implementation efforts, the MoEFCC has mobilised central ministries, state governments, institutions, and private organisations to align their activities with LiFE and spread awareness about the sustainable actions that individuals can undertake. Activities such as street play competitions, painting competitions, and essay writing competitions are being carried out with a focus on sustainability, at district, state, and national levels.
To further catalyse pan-India advocacy and awareness about LiFE, the MoEFCC has initiated a month-long mass mobilisation drive, which will culminate on 5 June. To amplify all efforts to promote the message of LiFE and make the drive a success, MoEFCC has included all 99 ministries and 36 states/union territories, along with their divisions, subordinate organisations, and field offices, to undertake LiFE-related activities.
