Animal Welfare

The NGO showcases at the India Animal Welfare Forum organized on the 31st of January, 2026 in Mumbai served as a powerful intersection of passion and pragmatism. It was a space where the raw, on-the-ground realities of grassroots work met the structured, metric-driven world of fund mobilization. Reflecting on the event reveals a complex dynamic of pressure, critical systemic awareness, and strategic orchestration. The Crucible of the Pitch: Pressure and Precision The showcase

Artificial Intelligence has quietly become a part of our everyday lives. We interact with it when we search online, navigate through cities, write emails, edit photographs, or ask questions to virtual assistants. Yet, despite how deeply AI has entered mainstream life, one question continues to emerge within the world of social impact and animal welfare: How do we meaningfully use AI for compassion-driven work? As a philanthropic organization working within animal welfare, thi

At the Upadhyaya Foundation’s ‘AI for Animal Welfare: From Compassion to Action’ Demo Day, held on 7th March 2026 in Mumbai, developers, nonprofits, funders, and ecosystem stakeholders came together to explore how emerging technologies can be applied to animal welfare in practical, real-world ways. Organised in partnership with Electric Sheep and Open Paws, the event brought together a select cohort of AI teams working on solutions across wildlife protection, community animal

When we talk about animal welfare, the conversation often moves quickly to systems, policies, infrastructure, sterilisation programmes, rescue networks. All of these are important. They are necessary. But I’ve been thinking about something much more basic that sits underneath all of this. Kindness. Not as a vague ideal, but as a starting point. As a perspective that influences our understanding of animals before we determine our actions towards them. At the forum, I found my

On January 31, 2026, the India Animal Welfare Forum came to life in a room filled with over 200 philanthropists, CSR heads, NGO leaders, media professionals and field experts. But long before people entered that room, the event already existed in their minds. Communication had already shaped what they expected to see, who they expected to meet, and what they believed the Forum represented. By the time participants walked in, perception had already begun forming. The core lear

Cities often feel like they belong entirely to us. We design them, expand them, regulate them, and speak about them as human spaces. But if you pause for a moment and really observe, that idea begins to fall apart. Our cities are shared spaces. Community dogs resting under parked cars, cats weaving through narrow lanes, birds nesting in buildings, and cattle moving through traffic. They are not visitors. They live here too. Animals are everywhere in our urban ecosystems, but

This poem, written by Brinda Upadhyaya, Co-Founder, Upadhyaya Foundation, is a reflection on the Sundarban landscape and the life it sustains. Inspired by the richness of the ecosystem as well as the work of HEAL, one of the NGO partners of the Foundation, within it, the poem brings together the rivers, forests, and species that coexist in this unique environment. It was written not only about the landscape, but also for the people who are deeply engaged in protecting it. Thr

All Creatures Great and Small , written by Brinda Upadhyaya, Co-Founder, Upadhyaya Foundation is a quiet but powerful expression of the values that underpin the India Animal Welfare Forum. Rooted in the idea of jeevdaya —compassion for all living beings—the poem reflects a worldview where humans are not separate from nature, but deeply interconnected with it. Moving across water, sky, and land, the verses remind us that every creature plays a role in shaping the world we inha

Across India, thousands of individuals and organisations work every day to rescue injured animals, rehabilitate wildlife, manage community animal populations, and protect habitats. Yet despite the scale and urgency of these challenges, animal welfare remains one of the most underfunded sectors in Indian philanthropy . This reality became even more visible during the India Animal Welfare Forum , where over 200 leaders from across the country and internationally came together t