We have been born as part of one world, where all the living forms have been equally progressing and have come a long way surviving through thick and thin, while some were unable to evolve in a way effective enough to outlast extinction and natural calamities as well. The living organisms residing in the planet also adds to its environment and more importantly its diversity. It has been our legit duty to protect and conserve all life forms for the sake of humanity we all are granted with.
Different rights of both Humans and Animals started to create a general concern among all man for a peaceful tomorrow. After World War II, the brutality and violence reached a new high, as cries for Human Rights from all over the world echoed loud. Similarly, Animals rights were also a concern from a very long time, which made British philosopher John Locke write, "For the custom of tormenting and killing of beasts will, by degrees, harden their minds even towards men", in his 1693 book, ‘Some Thought Concerning Education’. Since then Several laws have been enacted all over the world to protect and treat every life form with equality and humanity. Despite several laws, cruelty on animals has been surfacing every now and then, for food, human work and entertainment purposes, clothes, experiments, religion and topping all cruelty and brutality for unnecessary reasons by fellow humans. Another crisis that has been dawning upon us is with the expansion of humankind in most of the land reserved in the planet, animals are gradually restricted to a limited space.
India had over the years several acts enlisted to minimise cruelty towards animals, starting from The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1962, which was amended in 1982 and the Indian Animal Welfare Act 2011, but still fails to counter the abuse done by men on various purposes. However, Punjab-Haryana High Court has recently declared that animals are also to be treated similarly as humans and will carry the same status as well, while Uttarakhand High Court preached for the similar status a while ago. They are not to be treated as personal property, and to be protected by all and to leave them unharmed. This has encouraged a step towards a peaceful environment for all to live in harmony but with a long way still to go, the people needs be aware of it to help in this important progress.
