BJP and Congress Urged to Include Animal Welfare Protections in 2024 Party Manifestos

PETA India has 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. Currently, a person convicted under The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 for committing cruelty to an animal can get away with just a fine of Rs 10. The parties have been urged to support significant fines, jail time, and a ban on keeping or working with animals for those convicted of abusing animals.

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
• Prohibiting the use of elephants in performances
• Ending the use of animals forced to perform in circuses
• Focusing on the production of vegan food and leather in India
• Prohibiting the caging of aerial birds
• 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

Animals are not ours to abuse in any way.