Listen First, Govern Better: How Young Indians Are Changing Climate Policy

Small BusinessEntrepreneursListen First, Govern Better: How Young Indians Are Changing Climate PolicyByAshoka,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Insights, how-to’s, and stories from the world of social impactfor AshokaFollow AuthorMay 26, 2026, 12:36pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Anshul Tewari, founderYouth Ki Awaaz In a country of 1.4 billion people, more than half under the age of 30, the question of who speaks for young Indians is not a small one. Anshul Tewari has spent nearly two decades trying to answer it. As founder of Youth Ki Awaaz ("Voice of the Youth"), India’s largest civic participation platform, he has built a community of 200,000 monthly contributors and a WhatsApp-based polling engine that pulses tens of thousands of young people daily on everything from climate anxiety to mental health. The result is ground-level intelligence, at scale, that governments are beginning to actually use. Tewari spoke with Ashoka’s Simon Stumpf about where the idea came from, what the data is revealing, and why a youth-led accountability moment for climate is coming.Simon Stumpf: You started Youth Ki Awaaz at 17. What was the frustration that set it off?Anshul Tewari: I grew up in a household where watching the news was a daily norm — we could discuss it openly. But the outside world was different, there was no engagement on real issues impacting my generation. It gave me this feeling that the news is not something I relate with. Why isn’t the news built for young people? Why is the media so top down? So I decided: I’m not going to wait for a journalist to build a space for young people. I’m going to build it myself. So in 2008, at 17, I started a blog. The first post was titled The Global Warning — about climate change and why I, a young person in India, cared about it. But it also quickly made me realize I still had bet...