‘A strong anti-corruption legislation will bring relief to all those who are disempowered, particularly animals’.
Animal rights activists have also joined the nationwide agitation against corruption supporting Anna Hazare. The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) has lent its support to Hazare’s campaign.
“Though India has some of the best animal protection laws, animals continue to suffer horrendously due to poor governance and corruption. Thus the ‘India Against Corruption’ campaign resonates strongly with the animal protection movement,” Clair Abraham, an Udaipur-based animal rights activist, said.
Clair argues that her organisation has reported many cases of dogs being abused and killed mercilessly and the guilty going scot-free; parakeets frequently caged and used as added attraction by fortune-tellers; monkeys made to dance like puppets and cattle and sheep are transported and slaughtered illegally, in addition to the abusive lives they have had. But due to corruption in the official system, the mute animals are being denied the right to life.
“We support Anna and the rest of the country in this movement and hope that at least now, a strong anti-corruption legislation will be brought in, which will bring in the much needed relief to all those who are disempowered, including and particularly the animals,” Arpan Sharma, CEO of FIAPO, said.
Poor governance and deception have conspired to block important animal protection legislation that has been due for a long time. Since 2009, rules have been under formulation to protect commercially bred dogs as well as for regulation of pet shops — both of which blatantly exploit animals. However, even after a rigorous process of public disclosure and comment, these rules have now mysteriously disappeared, demonstrating the reach of well-connected animal exploiters in the government.
Similarly in 2010, a progressive Animal Welfare Act was proposed to replace the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. However, it appears that this legislation, too, is being diluted, delayed and certain absurd provisions inserted to completely sabotage it, the activists said.
“Both the government and private money-making industries devastate the lives of innocent, helpless animals through bribery and fraudulence. Animals desperately need the anti-corruption movement to free them from years of oppression,” Clair said.
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