The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), the apex body in the country for the welfare and protection of animals, established under Section 4 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 conferred 14 Prani Mitra awards and JeevDaya awards 2021 to the individuals, organizations and corporates for their outstanding performance in the field of animal welfare.

Shri Giriraj Singh, Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt. of India distributed the awards and conveyed his greetings to all the animal lovers on the auspicious day of Vasant Panchami.

 Minister congratulated the awardees for their selfless service being rendered by them in the field of animal welfare. The Minister pointed out that these type of awards to the individuals and animal welfare organizations will encourage the people to save the animals more and more. He also emphasized the great philosophy of our motherland means everyone has to be happy, healthy and prosperous in co-existence on the motherland. The AWBI, animal welfare organizations and animal lovers in our country are also concerned about the welfare of all creatures from Ant to Elephant and working for prevention of cruelty to animals. The Minister also appreciated the gaushalas looking after thousands of cow and its progeny with “SevaBhav” and further emphasised that these gaushalas need to adopt innovative ideas and technologies to make them self-sustainable. The utmost necessity and need of the hour is to create awareness amongst the public in general about the compassion, kindness, welfare of animals and prevention of cruelty to animals in letter and spirit of the act and rules framed for the purpose.

 The following individuals / organizations have been awarded with the Prani Mitra and JeevDaya Awards in their respective fields: -

(1) Prani Mitra Award Individual – Shri Yogender Kumar, New Delhi, Shri Manish Saxena, Jaipur, Rajasthan and Shri Shyam Lal Chaubisa, Udaipur, Rajasthan.

(2) Prani Mitra Award Shaurya – Shri Anil Gandas, Gurugram, Haryana, Late Smt. Kalpana Vasudevan, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu.

(3) Prani Mitra Award – Life Time Animal Service – Maj. Gen. (Retd) Dr. R. M. Kharb, AVSM, Gurugram, Haryana, Dr. S. Chinny Krishna, Chennai, Tamilnadu and Dr. S.R. Sundaram, Chennai, Tamilnadu.

(4) Prani Mitra Award – Animal Welfare Organization – World Sankirtan Tour Trust, Hodal, Haryana, Shri Karuna Foundation Trust, Rajkot, Gujarat and People for Animals, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

 (5) Prani Mitra Award – Corporate – Tata Trust Foundation, Mumbai, Maharashtra.

 (6) JeevDaya Award – Animal Welfare Organization – Dhyan Foundation, New Delhi and Animal Aid Charitable Trust, Udaipur, Rajasthan.

 Shri Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt. of India told while addressing the award function that animal welfare subject is very important and has become of more relevance to address the issues of man-animal conflicts. Shri Chaturvedi congratulated all the awardees and hoped that this will further encourage the individuals and organizations to do more work in the field of animal welfare. He quoted the Article 51 A (g) of our constitution which says, “It is the moral responsibility of citizens of India to protect and improve the natural environment and have compassion for all living creatures.”

Dr. O. P. Chaudhary, Joint Secretary, NLM and AW, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt. of India and Chairman AWBI told that the individuals and animal welfare organization are contributing immensely in the field of animal welfare and saving the lives of our animal friends from being subjected from unnecessary pain and sufferings. The new ideas and innovation is also being introduced to further enhance the welfare measures of the animals throughout the nation. Chairman AWBI conveyed his gratefulness to awardees and the animal lovers from all over the country attended this function virtually. He told that Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Budha, Lord Mahavira were great preachers of the JeevDaya and kindness towards animals. Dr. Chaudhary briefed about the activities of AWBI and the participation of the Honorary Animal Welfare Officers, Colony Animal Care Takers and other eminent personalities to serve the homeless animals, reducing the homeless dog population, Rabies incidents and man-animal conflicts.

AWBI members Shri Girish J. Shah and Shri Ram Krishna Raghuvanshi attended the award function and expressed their views and experiences in the field of animal welfare. Prof. R.S. Chauhan, Member AWBI and Dr. Ashok Kanwar, Oncologist virtually attended the function and shared their research work on medicinal use of cow dung and cow urine. The awardees also shared the animal welfare activities carried out by them in their respective organizations and area of expertise.

APS/MG/JK