Gauri Maulekhi is the Trustee of People for Animals – India’s largest animal welfare organisation. She is also the Member Secretary of People for Animals, Uttarakhand, which is the legal and policy wing of its parent organisation. Since 1994, she has contributed to animal welfare in various capacities – policy reform, capacity-building for law enforcement authorities, public awareness and sheltering.

Gauri Maulekhi serves as a resource person and a trainer for the State Police for more than 8 states, and has held workshops on animal welfare at the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal and several State Judicial Academies. She has been nominated by several State Governments to be a Member of Slaughter-House Monitoring Committees and Animal Birth Control Implementation and Monitoring Committees, constituted in compliance with Supreme Court orders. Ms. Maulekhi was awarded the prestigious Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2018 by the President of India for her contribution to the field of animal welfare advocacy, and is a recipient of the Lush Prize 2017 for her contribution towards reducing unnecessary use of animals in laboratories.

Alopkparna Sengupta is the Managing Director for Humane Society International-India. She has worked in the animal protection movement for over a decade.

Alokparna has been part of several government and scientific committees including that of Indian Council of Medical Research, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, Central Insecticides Board, Bureau of Indian Standards etc. She has also been part of several stakeholder committee meetings to bring in animal friendly policies in India. Having obtained a degree of Masters in Science (M.Sc) for Biotechnology from Osmania University, she has recently completed her L.L.M (Professional) course from National Law University, Delhi.

Dr. Joshi got commissioned through Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (1997 Batch). He has served as Veterinary Officer at various Government Veterinary Hospitals of Uttar Pradesh Government & Uttarakhand Government. With respect to various animal welfare issues, he has been communicating & coordinating with Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), National Institute of Animal Welfare (NIAW), Rastriya Kamdhenu Aayog, Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals(CPCSEA), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), Veterinary Council of India (VCI), Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries (DAHD) & various other national level bodies of Union Government as well as relevant departments of Uttarakhand State Government & District Administration

Dr. Joshi also serves as Resource Person for capacity building workshops on animal welfare laws conducted for the purpose of sensitizing law enforcement agencies (Uttarakhand Police Academy Narendranagar, Armed Training Center Haridwar) as well as other bodies like:
District Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Central Detective Training School Jaipur, Delhi Police Academy at Najafgarh, Urban Development Department, Animal Husbandry Department. Dr. Joshi serves as elected General Secretary for Uttarakhand State Veterinary Services Association. He is also the Member Secretary, Uttarakhand State Animal Birth Control Monitoring Committee.

Since the age of 11, Shreya has volunteered at animal shelters and with various animal welfare organisations, to rescue, foster, re-home animals, respond to animal cruelty in accordance with the legal process. A lawyer by qualification, Shreya has been the Manager of HSI/India’s Cruelty Response Department since June, 2015-2017. Her responsibilities also include working towards policy change, capacity building of law enforcement agencies, judiciary and grass-root activists, to tackle animal cruelty and abuse. In this capacity, Shreya has achieved favourable orders implementation of the prohibition on animal fights in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Assam, and Goa. She has also contributed to the development and notification of various Rules under the PCA Act.

Shreya went on to manage the Farm Animal Protection Department. Within the Department, she leads the End Battery Cages Campaign, through litigation, advocacy and corporate outreach, to eliminate the use of battery cages for housing egg-laying hens in India. She also oversees all farm animal protection projects and campaigns undertaken by HSI/India.

Nikunj Sharma is the CEO of Mercy For Animals- India. He is responsible for the Indian region, strategizing and leading policy and advocacy initiatives for MFA-India Campaigns and building strong formal networks with key influencers like parliamentarians, bureaucrats, think tanks, lawyers, celebrities and civil society leaders to progress farm animal welfare in India.

Nikunj Sharma has been professionally working in the field of animal welfare since 2007 and is a Public Policy, Government Relations and Public engagement expert.

He started his career in 2007 as Vegan Campaign Coordinator at People For Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA – India). By 2014, he went on to head PETA-India’s Public Policy Department as its Associate Director. During his tenure with PeTA-India, he contributed to policy-wins like Jallikattu ban in Supreme Court, Manja Ban in the National Green Tribunal & Bullock Cart Races ban in High Court of Bombay. He has worked with the Government on various animal rights issues, including serving as a member of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on the Food and Agriculture Committee and several expert committees constituted by the Delhi Government.