Mamata Banerjee skips NITI Aayog meet again

New rules on animal testing must take India forward, not backwards: Maneka Gandhi Officials maintain the changes seek to simplify approvals for research institutions, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. Updated on: Oct 26, 2026, 14:54:47 IST By Jasjeev Gandhiok Prefer HTPrefer HT Prefer HT on Google Share The Centre’s draft rules governing animal experimentation have triggered concerns among animal rights groups, which say the changes could weaken independent oversight and make it easier for laboratories to conduct experiments on animals. However, officials maintain the changes seek to simplify approvals for research institutions, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. Former Union minister Maneka Gandhi. Former Union minister Maneka Gandhi. HT speaks to animal rights activist and former Union minister Maneka Gandhi, a long-time campaigner against animal experimentation. Edited excerpts: A major change to animal experimentation, proposed in the draft, is that mild and moderate experiments could be approved by an institution’s own ethics committee rather than going to the central regulator. In practical terms, what does this change mean for an animal inside a laboratory? Does it make it easier for more animals to be experimented on? It means the animal loses the one independent pair of eyes that was looking at its fate. Today, experiments on animals larger than a rat go to the central regulator, and there is at least someone outside the building asking whether this experiment is necessary at all. Under the draft, the people who want to do the experiment, their colleagues and their department heads will be the ones approving it. And it is the institution itself, through its own veterinarian, that decides whether the experiment is mild or moderate in the first place. No institution has ever turned down its own funding. So yes, it will make it easier, and it will make it faster, and that means more animals. Mild and moderate are also the bulk of experiments, so we are effectively handing over most of animal experimentation in India to self regulation. The draft classifies experiments as mild, moderate, severe and non-recovery. Is there a concern that the institution conducting the research will effectively decide how severe the experiment is. Does this leave a grey area? It isn’t grey, it is completely black. Under this draft, the institution that wants to do the experiment is also the one that decides which category it falls into. That decision matters enormously, because if the experiment is classified as mild or moderate, the institution’s own committee approves it and it never goes to the central regulator. Only severe and non-recovery experiments on larger animals go outside. So the same people who want the experiment approved are deciding whether anyone independent will ever examine it. That is a clear conflict of interest, and it will push experiments towards the lower categories. Starving a rat for a day is called mild. Keeping a social animal alone in a cage is mild. Starving it for two days, or putting it through distress it cannot escape, is moderate. So is testing herbal products, testing established drugs, and anything described as having “known and reversible effects,” which could mean almost anything. This is not a scientific list. It is the most common commercial work. The draft also creates exceptions and allows laboratories to use animals from open markets, unregistered sources, and in certain circumstances, stray, feral, wild and protected animals. What is the biggest risk that this may create for animals in practice? Could community dogs, lost pets or animals taken from the wild find their way into laboratories? The biggest risk is that nobody will know where an animal came from. The whole point of registered breeders was traceability. Once you allow open markets and unregistered sources for cattle, goats, birds and fish, you create a demand, and in this country demand is met very quickly by people who will pick up anything. Strays and wild animals can be used if a “competent authority” permits it, and the draft never says who that is. Community dogs, someone’s lost pet, birds from illegal markets, all of it can find its way into a laboratory. These exceptions should be removed completely. If a lab cannot get an animal from a registered source, it should not be doing that experiment. The draft formally incorporates the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement, but critics say these safeguards become weaker if institutions themselves are approving experiments. Do you believe India should now be moving towards replacing animal experiments altogether, particularly when the health ministry has already allowed certain drug testing through non-animal methods? What should the rules do differently? Yes, and we are not starting from zero. The health ministry has already amended the drug rules to accept non-animal methods. The world is moving this way because these methods are often more predictive for humans than a mouse ever was. Writing replacement, reduction and refinement into the rules means nothing if the person checking compliance is the institution itself. The rules should make it mandatory to show that no validated alternative exists before an animal is used, set up a national body to validate and promote alternatives, put money into them, and set timelines to phase out animal use in areas where alternatives are already available. A rule that only mentions replacement as a principle is decoration. You have worked on animal experimentation regulation for decades. What specific changes would you want the government to make to this draft? I don’t think this draft can be fixed. There is hardly a provision in it that doesn’t need changing, and when everything needs to change, it is better to start again. So the draft should be put aside and written afresh, this time with independent scientists, animal welfare organisations and legal experts at the table. The new rules must take India forward, not backwards. Animals already have certain protections under the law which cannot be taken away. New should be building on them.

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee chose to skip the 10th Governing Council meeting of the NITI Aayog, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday. The high-level meeting, aimed at charting a roadmap for a developed India by 2047, witnessed participation from several state leaders — but not from West Bengal.

This year’s meeting focused on the theme “Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat@2047,” emphasizing a collaborative approach between the Centre and states to transform India into a developed nation. However, Mamata Banerjee’s absence from the discussion table has triggered political outrage.

In July 2024, Banerjee had walked out of a similar meeting, alleging that she was permitted to speak for only five minutes. That episode appears to have left a lasting impression, prompting her to completely boycott this year’s session. Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saugata Roy defended Banerjee’s decision, claiming that the NITI Aayog has failed to give equal representation to all states. “The Modi government’s move to replace the Planning Commission with NITI Aayog was unethical. The CM has done the right thing,” Roy said.

Meanwhile, the BJP and Congress launched scathing attacks on Banerjee for what they described as her disregard for cooperative federalism. BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya accused her of playing politics at the expense of West Bengal’s development. “She claims her mic was switched off last year, but no other CM supported her. Her decision today is just another act of opposition to the PM, sacrificing the future of the state,” he said.

Former Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury echoed similar sentiments, stating, “The CM is disrespecting the institution and betraying the people of Bengal. This is her failure.”

Notably, there was no official announcement from the West Bengal government regarding who would represent the state in the chief minister’s absence, further fuelling criticism from opposition leaders.

The absence of one of India’s most politically vocal chief ministers from a platform meant to promote consensus between the Centre and states has once again highlighted the deep-rooted tensions between West Bengal and the Union government.