BJP and Congress Urged to Include Animal Welfare Protections in 2024 Party Manifestos by PETA India
For Immediate Release:
14 March 2023
Contact:
Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]
Sanskriti Bansore; [email protected]
New Delhi – Today, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India sent letters to the presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress urging them to include animal welfare in their respective parties’ 2024 election manifestos through updates to policies and legislation to provide stronger protections for animals and create harsher penalties for those who commit acts of cruelty. The request includes phasing out the use of animals in experiments in favour of state-of-the-art research methods and prohibiting the use of elephants in performances, among other animal rights–related initiatives.
A copy of PETA India’s letters can be available upon request.
“Integral to the moral fibre of our country are the principles of ahimsa and karuna,” writes PETA India Director of Advocacy Projects Khushboo Gupta. “It is of utmost importance that the welfare of all living beings is given due consideration and protection.”
PETA India points out that The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, is more than 60 years old and is in need of urgent updates to adequately protect animals, including stronger penalties for acts of cruelty. “Currently, a person who commits cruelty to an animal can get away with just a Rs 10 fine,” Gupta writes. The group is recommending more significant fines, jail time, and a ban on keeping or working with animals for those who are convicted.
Other recommendations made by PETA India to add animal welfare measures into the parties’ manifestos include the following:
Prioritising funding for the development of sophisticated, non-animal research and testing methods and committing to a strategy to phase out the use of animals in science
Focusing on the production of vegan food and leather in India
Prohibiting the caging of aerial birds
Ending the use of animals forced to perform in circuses
Prohibiting the sale of animals through pet shops and breeders while promoting the adoption of dogs and cats from overburdened animal shelters
Developing action plans to reduce the consumption of animal-derived foods so as to protect animals, human health, and the environment
Mandating humane education in schools
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
#
