
Gauri Maulekhi
Trustee, People For Animals & Member Secretary, People For Animals Uttarakhand
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.

Dr. Sujit Kumar Dutta
Secretary, Animal Welfare Board of India & Jt. Commissioner, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries
In 2012, Dr. Dutta took charge of the post of Deputy Commissioner, DAHD – with special charge of the Livestock Health Division. Dr. Dutta has also received training in the Performance Veterinary Services Evaluation process. In 2016, Dr. Dutta became the Joint Commissioner, DAHD. Dr. Dutta also holds the post of Member Secretary, Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA).

Alokparna Sengupta
Managing Director, Humane Society International India
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. Ashutosh Joshi
Joint Director (Animal Welfare), Department of Animal Husbandry, Govt. of Uttarakhand & Officer In Charge, Uttarakhand Animal Welfare Board
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.

Shreya Paropkari
Senior Manager, Farm Animal Protection & Cruelty Response, Humane Society International – India
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
Chief Executive Officer, Mercy For Animals 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.

Anjali Sharma
Advocate
In December 2010, Ms. Sharma was nominated on to the Animal Welfare Board of India – the statutory board set up under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act – by the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change. She went on to serve on the Animal Welfare Board for 2 three year terms, until February 2017, and was also the Board’s Advocate in important litigation, including the stray dogs’ matter at the Supreme Court of India. In March 2016 she was awarded the Nari Shakti Puruskaar by the President of India.

Dr. Manilal Valliyate
CEO, PETA-India
Dr Manilal Valliyate is currently the Chief Executive officer (CEO) at PETA India. He is also a former co-opted member of the Animal Welfare Board of India, which operates under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and a former member of the Kerala State Animal Welfare Board. At PETA India, Dr Manilal has been instrumental in achieving several groundbreaking victories including getting the live embalming of calves in veterinary education banned, encouraging the Central Department of Animal Husbandry to issue a circular to animal husbandry directors in all states and union territories stating that cattle must be given anaesthetics prior to castration, stopping illegal bullock cart races in which the animals are commonly hit with nail-studded sticks, replacing the bullocks who hauled heavy kerosene oil carts through Mumbai streets with motorised vehicles, rescuing several once-chained elephants from lives of loneliness in temples, removing numerous lame and injured horses from the abusive Victoria carriage trade, and much more. His expert testimony and reports have aided PETA India in winning numerous court cases that have helped prevent the suffering of animals nationwide, including the landmark 2014 Supreme Court judgment that banned jallikattu (later permitted in Tamil Nadu, which PETA India is committed to challenging in court), bullock cart races, and other uses of bulls in performances.
To protect his health and reduce animal suffering, Dr Manilal Valliyate lives and advocates a vegan lifestyle, opting for soya milk and peanut curd instead of foods made from cows’ or buffaloes’ milk.

Meet Ashar
Associate Manager, Emergency Response Team, PETA India.

Vivek
Founder Director of the Gandhi Fellowship

Jayasimha Nuggehalli
Chief Operating Officer, Global Food Partners

Gauri Puri
Advocate

Arjun Dewan
Advocate

Sumanth Bindumadhav
Senior Manager, (Wildlife, Disaster Response & Dhadwad Program), HSI India

Dr. Sonali Ghosh, IFS
Deputy Inspector General of Forest (HQ), Central Zoo Authority

Dr. S.P Yadav, IFS
Member Secretary, Central Zoo Authority
He is trained by Wildlife Institute India and Smithsonian Institution, USA in tiger conservation and holds a PhD degree. He has played an important role in successful tiger conservation in India while working in the National Tiger Conservation Authority for almost seven years during its formative years. He has distinction of working as Assistant Secretary General in the Global Tiger Forum, which happens to be the only inter-governmental international organisation in the field of tiger conservation in the wild.
Dr Yadav was also conferred with the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi National Award for Wildlife Conservation by the Government of India.

Dr. Shekhar Kumar Niraj, IFS
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Govt. of Tamil Nadu.
Dr. Niraj obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Arizona, USA in Spring 2009. His dissertation was on the subject of Sustainable Development, Poaching, and Illegal Wildlife Trade in India. Dr. Niraj also obtained a Graduate Degree Certification in Geographic Information Science (GIS) in the fall of 2008 from University of Arizona. Other academic accomplishments include: a Masters Degree in Forestry & in Chemistry and a Master of Philosophy Degree in Metallic Corrosion from Delhi University. As the Additional PCCF, Project Tiger in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Niraj was responsible for overseeing the management of tiger reserves in Tamil Nadu besides conducting several projects for tiger management, protection and community based protection and ecotourism initiatives.
Dr. Niraj has held various assignments as an Officer of the Indian Forest Service specializing in wildlife for over 25 years, including: forest management, wildlife management, participatory management of natural resources by local communities and policy development. Dr. Niraj has contributed towards capacity building of various law enforcing agencies (including Police, Border Security Forces, Customs, Army, Forest and Wildlife Departments) with respect to combating illegal wildlife trade and wildlife crimes. In the process, he has trained more than 10,000 officers of various enforcement and research institutions throughout his career.