Today we celebrate the life of a visionary leader, a mentor, and a friend. As the first Executive Director of Greenpeace India and a tireless advocate for human rights and the environment, Ananth’s life was a testament to the power of principled activism. While he has moved on, the institutions he built and the movements he sparked remain.
“Greenpeace was quite an exciting journey for me, from being a very small organisation to being a fairly large one, to having almost at one time maybe half a million Indians donating regularly to Greenpeace, having 10-12 cities where we had teams that were actually standing on the street and soliciting support for Greenpeace. And I used to quite enjoy standing on the street and soliciting support for Greenpeace.” Ananth, Grassroots Nation March 23, 2025.
Binu Jacob , the executive Director of Greenpeace India remembers an incident of Ananth standing on the street asking for a monthly Rs 500 contribution from a potential donor who looked at him puzzled and asked him who he was. Ananth replied, “I’m the executive Director of Greenpeace” and they retorted “Ya right and I am Bill Gates!”