JNU Establishes Animal Welfare Society

JNU, known for its extensive initiatives on creating environmental capacity building and livelihood practice, has approved another milestone, setting up a statutory body for creating animal welfare seeking to integrate compassion and sustainability.

JNU established an animal welfare society, a known initiative also adopted by Ashoka University, which possesses an Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) that supports an animal welfare club known as Team Pawsitive.

The initiative has been rolled out under the leadership of Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, in line with directives from the Ministry of Education and the University Grants Commission (UGC), and in keeping with the vision of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

This initiative includes an animal feeding zone, awareness campaigns, and teams to research animal law, ecology, and sustainability. This move is also getting attention in the wake of the recent order by the Supreme Court to not send the stray dogs to shelter homes. This will definitely help the varsity animals to get an ally in this precarious situation.

This initiative was accompanied by several dog bites reported earlier this year. Since the campus is surrounded by extreme forest canopy, it is likely that the animals from nearby Sanjay Van hop and reside here. The campus is spread out over 1,000 acres, accommodating several animals; while some students feed them, others feel scared.

Currently, the society will be chaired by associate dean of students, Professor Piyush Pratap Singh, and includes faculty members, staff members and external advisers such as animal-rights activists Gauri Mauekhi and PAWS Foundation’s Vipu Jain.

According to Vice Chancellor Pandit, the initiative is designed not only to encourage sustainability but also to embed animal welfare into the university’s academic and social environment,