India, March 12 -- With the aim of integrating animal welfare into the country's climate, public health, policy framework, and economic development agenda, the India Karuna Collaborative (IKC), a first-of-its-kind national platform to address "invisible animal cruelty", was launched in Mumbai on Wednesday.

IKC has brought together more than 50 organisations and over 70 leaders from business, science, public health, and civil society who believe that "this invisible population represents a missing and critical dimension in the country's development story".

According to IKC, more than 1.5 billion farm animals, including cows, hens, pigs, and aquacultured fish, are embedded in India's daily economic and food systems.

In his keynote addres...