Animal Welfare in 2014 General Elections Article 51A(g) in The Constitution Of India It shall be the duty of every citizen

of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures; 1. Improve farm animal welfare: There is an increasing tendency in India to move towards industrial methodsof farming which intensively confines and impacts negatively on the welfare of animals. Animals can experience significant and prolonged physical and psychological assaults due to which they are found to be frustrated, distressed, and suffering The industrialization of animal agriculture also jeopardizes food security by degrading the environment, threatening human health, and diminishing income-earning opportunities in rural areas. Small farmers who try to directly compete with large animal agribusiness are at risk of being pushed out of the market because they lack the political and economic power of the larger companies, or the ability to exploit economies of scale.Given the volume of scientific research showing the harmful impacts of animal factories on people and animals, the 16th Lok Sabha must discourage intensive animal agriculture, support small-farmer led and animal welfare-friendly agriculture, as well as enact and implement stronger environmental and farm animal welfare regulations. 2. Reduce the number of animals used in research and testing: The 16th LokSabha should support the adoption of a nation-wide strategy for the development, acceptance, and mandatory use of non-animal testing methods. The strategy should: (a) Establish more rigorous and transparent processes for ethical and scientific merit review of new projects involving animal use; (b) Ensure updating of legislation and regulations controlling animal experimentation; (c) Emphasise the need to replace, reduce and refine animal use across all safety testing and health research areas; (d) Implement mandatory data sharing, to avoid duplication of animal testing and the inclusion of non-animal test methods; and (d)Adopt a strategy for the replacement of animals in research and testing, including through increasing the proportion of health research funding dedicated to human biology-based in vitro, computational, and other innovative, non-animal tools and technologies. 3. Protect cats and dogs: For at least two decades, Indias official policy has outlawed killing of stray dogs and has gradually established Animal Birth Control (ABC) programs throughout the country. The program is funded and overseen by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) at a federal level. However, dog population and rabies is a health issue, the 16th Lok Sabha should support the implementation of Animal Birth Control (ABC) in constituencies across the country for street dogs and cats through a program funded and led by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. In addition to this, the 16thLok Sabha should implement a prohibition on puppy mills and sale of pet from pet store. A puppy mill is a large scale breeding operation in which puppies are mass-produced for profit in substandard conditions. Puppy millsproduce as many puppies as possible with minimal cost to, and maximal financial gain for, the operator. Pet stores thrive on the existence of these puppy mills. Neither a pet store nor a

puppy millcan and will ever meet the needs of a dog. This is most definitely a blatantform of cruelty and it needs to be prohibited.
4.

Improve the welfare of wild animals: Wild animals are protected in India mostly through the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 for native wildlife. However exotic wildlife is not protected under any law in India inspite of a rampant practice of illegal exotic wildlife trade and pet trade in India.The commercial trade in wild animals is a multibillion dollar business that threatens the survival of many species and results in the inhumane treatment of billions of animals every year. Wildlife trade includes live animals (who may be sold as exotic pets or stock for game farms, or sent to biomedical research facilities or zoos) and their parts (which may be used in clothing, as ornamental objects, as food or as traditional medicine).Wildlife trade is linked to violence, drugs and organized crime. It harms wildlife populations. Methods used to capture animals for trade may be terribly cruel. The 16thLok Sabha must bring in legislations in order to regulate or end this trade live wild animals and trade of their parts. Political groups are urged to firmly engage in safeguarding the welfare of both native and exotic wild animals in India by including the following objectives in their manifestos:-(a) Banning the import of wild-caught animals and restricting the number of exotic species that can be imported and traded in India, in line with Indias policies which tackle related concerns including human health, animal health and the protection of the environment. (b) Developing a dedicated overarching legislative framework to protect marine mammals from all threats, similar to that which already exists in the US (Marine Mammal Protection Act US, 1972), Mexico and France (c) Creating and adequately funding the implementation of an action plan to tackle wildlife trafficking. Specifically, the action plan must tackle enforcement, anti-poaching and demand reduction in source, transit and demand countries.

5. Animal Welfare Act: Indias Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (PCA) is more than 50 years old. The Animal Welfare Board of India, in 2010, drafted a new bill to replace the PCA act with an Animal Welfare Act. However due to bureaucracy and red tape, the draft act was tampered with and the process stalled. The 16thLok Sabha must ensure the adoption of a new Animal Welfare Act with adequate protections for all animals especially farm animals, and updated penalties including, but not limited to, monetary fines that serve as an effective deterrent to animal cruelty. 6. Trade Agreements:Use Indias trade agreements to boost animal welfare in partner countries. The 16thLok Sabha should ensure inclusionof animal welfare in all trade agreements, establishing animal welfare as an important concern of Indian citizens. The Parliament should call for measures thatsafeguard Indias animal welfare standards,and driveimprovements in animal welfare in trade partner countries. From farm animals to wildlife, protection of animals should be safeguarded and enhancedthrough the inclusion of specific considerations in trade agreements. Naresh kadyan, representative of OIPA www.oipa.org in India, C-38, Rose Apartment, sector14, Prashant Vihar, Rohini, Delhi 110085 Email: india@oipa.org and kadyan.ipfa@gmail.com