People for Animals

People For Animals is one of India’s largest animal welfare organisations, originally founded by Maneka Gandhi in 1992. Currently, the headquarters of this organisation are located in New Delhi, with over 100 regional units located around India. 
As both a non-governmental and non-profitable association, People For Animals core purpose is for the maintenance of animal rights and welfare in India, with an aim to establish various animal welfare centres across India’s 600 districts.
Structure.
Maneka Gandhi is the founder of People For Animals and is currently the chairperson of this organisation. Whilst serving India as a political member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Gandhi founded India’s largest organisation for animal rights and welfare, People For Animals. Following the foundation of this organisation, Gandhi was similarly appointed chairperson of the Committee for the Purpose and Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) in 1995. Throughout her time as an animal rights activist, Gandhi has been involved in investigating laboratories where animal testing was being carried out, has filed for Animal Birth Control programs (ABCs) in order to limit the amount of homeless dogs that were killed as a result of overpopulation and has also been involved in initiatives planned by the organisation International Animal Rescue. 
Trustees.
The current trustees of this organisation include:
Of these Trustees, Alpana Bhartia was one of the founding members of People For Animals and has been “working in the field of animal welfare and wildlife conservation for the past 25 years. As a member of the Institutional Ethics Committee of the National Centre for Biological Studies (NCBS), Bhartia’s ethical work has been predominantly centred on the concept of empathy towards animals. Bhartia later cofounded People For Animals in 1992 in order to provide veterinary care towards injured animals.
Initiatives.
Since being founded, People For Animals has provided treatment to more than 25,000 animals across more than 250 species. This organisation often works with various animal welfare and rights organisations such as Humane Society International (HSI) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in order to provide such treatment to wildlife.
Through partnership, People For Animals have been engaged with several different events and campaigns to provide assistance to wildlife and advocate for the education of animal welfare within India. 
Animal Birth Control.
As the founder of the organisation, Gandhi filed litigations in order to bring awareness to the killing of homeless dogs, advocating for the introduction of Animal Birth Control (ABC) programs in various regions of India. The Animal Birth Control program was developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in an attempt to provide a solution to the overpopulation of street dogs and the increased dispersal of the rabies virus among such wildlife. 
Rehabilitation of Laboratory Animals.
Alongside the Committee for the Purpose and Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA), People For Animals has established shelters for animal refugees across India in order to rehabilitate laboratory animals. Of these animals that have been used in laboratories, those that are dogs have been predominantly rehabilitated into individual homes . These shelters, over the past few years, have received small amounts of financial support from CPCSEA, but due to the work of People For Animals, CPCSEA have declared the rehabilitation of animals as a “moral and legal need” and hence will use such funds to establish independent laboratory animal rehabilitation centres. 
Challenges.
On the 5th of June 2020, founder Maneka Gandhi posted a tweet condemning the death of a pregnant elephant and suggested that the cause of the death was attributed to as a result of the use of a “bomb” provided by the “Malappuram” people, stating, “It’s a murder. Malappuram is famous for such incidents, it’s India’s most violent district. For instance, they throw poison on roads so that 300–400 birds & dogs die at one time.” Despite the elephant dying in Manarcad, leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Gandhi, predominantly targeted the only area of the Kerala district of which majority of the inhabitants followed the Islamic religious belief system. 
As a result, a group of individuals, to whom identify as the “Kerala Cyber Warriors,” hacked the official website for People For Animals, displaying a message that declared that Gandhi was attempting to instigate communal hatred and bigotry towards the “Malappuram” people. The message displayed by the Kerala Cyber Warriors also makes the claim that Gandhi’s comment used the death of an elephant in order to illustrate her “hate for Muslims,” declaring that animal welfare has been turned into a political matter. 
Gandhi was later charged with instigating communal hatred to an animal-related issue under Section 153 of the Indian Penal Code; “giving provocation with intent to cause riot.”
Future.
As of April 2021, People For Animals is still continuing to provide means of animal welfare and rights throughout different regions of India. Despite criticism and challenges the organisation has faced, particularly in relation to the founder; Maneka Gandhi, People For Animals continues to run various initiatives alongside instigating changes to their policies.
In accordance with the Indian philosophy of Ahimsa; belief in the sacredness of life, People For Animals continues to recognise the concept of the 4th R - Rehabilitation, and has continued working alongside the Committee for the Purpose and Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) to formulate guidelines for animal testing. Since 2004, “over 665 laboratories are registered with the CPCSEA,” ensuring that animal testing used on rats, mice, guinea-pigs or rabbits can be only be conducted if approved prior by a panel of scientists in the field or domain being studied.
Such policies regarding rehabilitation and relocation have also further been investigated in relation to leopards in India. In association with the Gujarat Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA), People For Animals aim to relocate leopards inhabiting public parks in order to “decrease conflicting interests of wildlife conservation and the local people” as opposed to inhumanely removing such wildlife via the means of death. 