Evaluate the effectiveness of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023 in balancing animal welfare with public safety.

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 (Act 59 of 1960) defines an "animal" as any living creature other than a human being and criminalises infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering [1]. With the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023 framed under it, India has a humane statutory design — but its balancing of welfare and public safety succeeds in principle more than in practice.

Strengths of the framework

• Statutory backbone: the PCA Act codifies cruelty offences and creates the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) as the nodal body, giving welfare a legal rather than charitable footing [1].
• Scientific population management: the ABC Rules, 2023, notified in March 2023 in supersession of the ABC (Dog) Rules, 2001, mandate sterilisation and immunisation of stray dogs by municipalities and panchayats to curb rabies and man–dog conflict [2].
• Judicially endorsed balance: the Supreme Court on 22 August 2025 modified its earlier order confining all Delhi-NCR strays to shelters as "too harsh", directing release after sterilisation and immunisation — excepting rabid or aggressive dogs, a carve-out that protects public safety without mass removal [3].

Limitations in delivery

• Capacity deficit: catch-neuter-vaccinate-release depends on municipal veterinary staff, ABC centres and shelters; AWBI has had to repeatedly press states and local bodies on implementation [4].
• Weak deterrence: penalties under a 1960 statute remain nominal and largely un-revised, blunting enforcement [1].
• Statutory silence on conflict: the Act does not itself resolve welfare versus human-safety claims, leaving courts to fill the gap case-by-case — hence directions to fence schools, hospitals and bus stands and clear highways of strays [5].
• Advisory powers: AWBI recommendations bind no state; enforcement rests with under-resourced local bodies.

The framework is thus sound in design but uneven in execution. Fully funding ward-level ABC infrastructure, integrating it with the rabies-elimination goal, and updating penalties would let welfare and safety advance together — the balance envisaged by the fundamental duty of compassion to living creatures under Article 51A(g).