Taking Animal Rights Forward Through Young Minds With Voiceless India

The upliftment of animals comes with the harsh reality of witnessing constant cruelty in everyday life. Be it injured animals on the street or industrialized animal agriculture, one of the greatest challenges faced by people passionate about animal rights is the ignorance and oblivion regarding the issues. Growing awareness about compassion for sentient beings from a young age is detrimental to bring about a change in how we place animals in our society.

Voiceless India is a non-profit organisation which has been tirelessly working towards animal rights advocacy and environmental issues through informational resources, campaigns, and on-ground projects for the past four years. The NGO not only assists in tangible animal safety but also emphasizes on spreading the ideals of veganism and unveiling different aspects of animal abuse in various industries.

Founded by Ankit Puri, a compassionate and driven 17-year-old in 2016, Voiceless India has facilitated significant changes in the field of animal welfare and sustainable living.

How Do They Help?

Voiceless India conducts both on-ground animal advocacy and environmental projects across the country, as well as awareness campaigns through diverse channels. These include documentary screenings, cleanliness drives, plantation drives, wall painting drives, youth outreach programmes, workshops in educational institutions and more. The NGO has also hosted a radio show called ‘A Voice for the Voiceless’ with several animal rights and environmental activists as guests.

They provide detailed resource sheets with a compilation of animal helpline contacts in a number of different states, as well as information for new or transitioning vegans on their website. These resource sheets are a way to hasten the process of helping an injured animal by keeping a list of emergency contacts easily accessible.

Voiceless India Workshops

One of the most impactful projects of the organization is the Voiceless India Workshop. Conducted in educational institutions, these aim to sensitize students about the animal cruelty in various fields along with ideals of veganism and compassion.

The educational workshops focus on different aspects of animal advocacy including animals in entertainment, animal testing, stray animals, animal agriculture and veganism.

The founder Ankit Puri at a Voiceless India Workshop

Schoolchildren often come up to the team to share the impact the workshops had on them, and many even declare their wish to go vegan.

“It’s a matter of fact that young children in general are more open to such issues than adults as they haven’t gone through years of conditioning. They have very high emotional receptors so they are able to empathize with the animals.”

Voiceless India continues their assistance to vegan curious students after the workshops. Even if the child is unable to make the transition due to parental and peer pressure, they are given access to informational resources.

“The idea of doing these workshops is to make them open to the idea of veganism so that when they actually have the agency to make the decision, they have the awareness of the issue.”

Affecting Change on Larger Scale

Voiceless India has spearheaded the India Against Animal Abuse Campaign since September 2020 with a goal to increase the legal punishment for animal abuse. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960) currently states fines ranging from merely Rs. 10 to Rs. 50 in cases of animal abuse. 

Voiceless India’s initiative has been essential in pressurizing the policy makers to increase the legal consequences of animal cruelty. The organization has sent letters and emails to the minister and department of animal husbandry, as well as to the Prime Minister’s office. The campaign also emphasizes on making all animal cruelty cases cognisable to avoid long delays in police action.

As a culmination of such campaigns, the government has recently proposed an amendment draft for PCA stating more serious legal actions for animal cruelty cases.

“We are really ecstatic about the draft that the government has proposed,” Puri exclaimed. “The draft brings about the two major reforms that we had asked for in our letter - the first being increasing the penalties on animal abuse, and second, to make the non-cognisable laws in the PCA cognisable. This is a true accomplishment as it will strengthen the animal rights framework in the country and also provide an incentive to the police to take action against animal abuse.”

Puri also pointed out the importance of the draft’s categorization of animal abuse into three parts - minor injury, major injury, and death. 

“It is recognizing that animals suffer in the same way as human beings, which is truly commendable,” he expressed. “It will be an incentive for animal rights activists and animal lovers to take a stand legally and report cases of animal abuse to the police. I hope that with this draft coming in, there will be an increase in the number of reported cases of animal abuse.”

Voiceless India will nevertheless continue the India Against Animal Abuse campaign to express public support for the amendment, and hope to see it implemented soon.

Send an email to the Department of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying here to extend your support.

How can you help?

Voiceless India has a work-from-home internship program for people devoted to the cause. Applications for the same are open till March 2nd 2021.

Apply here

You can also make a donation to contribute towards the care of street animals, including provision of reflective collars, food, and sterilizations, as well as towards workshops and wall painting drives.

For more information on Voiceless India and their initiatives, visit their website or connect with them on Instagram and Facebook.