The theme of this year's International Mountain Day (IMD) on 11 December will be Women move mountains.

India is home to some of highest mountain ranges and mountain roads in the world. It is hard to find a mountain which would not be revered or considered sacred and won't house a temple on top.

These mountains provide freshwater for everyday life to a significant portion of our population. It is mostly women's task to bring water and provide nutrition to their families.

However, our mountains are now succumbing to extreme air and plastic pollution.

Increased tourist inflow and availability of packaged goods without proper waste management result in accumulation of large heaps of trash in the pristine water bodies and meadows of Himalaya, Purvanchal, Satpura and Vindhya ranges as well as in the Western Ghats.

It is imperative for us to protect our hills and mountains. This is what each of us can easily do when in the mountains:

Don't ever give up and fight for the clean mountains for our next generation and all the beings dependent on these ecosystems!