Hon’ble Mr. Justice P.N. Prakash, Former Ju dge of Madras High Court released a book on Memories and Milestones marking sixty years of the Blue Cross of India
Mrs. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Animal rights activist, and Environmentalist and M r. A.L. Somayaji, Former Advocate General, Govt. of TN, graced the occasion
Chennai, March 2025
Scripting a monumental journey, histori an V. Sriram and Lashman document the 60 ye ars of Blue Cross in their book “Memories and Milestones”, which was released by H on’ble Mr. Justice P.N. Prakash, Former ju dge of Madras High Court and former Spe cial Public Prosecutor, National Investigatio n Agency, in the presence of Mrs. Maneka S anjay Gandhi, Animal rights activist, and E nvironmentalist a nd Mr. A. L. Somayaji, Fo rmer Advocate General, Government of Tam mil Nadu, wh o also received the first copy of the book, at a function held here in Chen ennai on 15th March 2025.
Celebrating Blue Cross and its 60th annive rsary, one cannot stop but applaud the achi evements of the Sundaram family and all t he others who have volunteered and worke ed for the Blue Cross of India, s ince its first registration in 1964. The m ost active anim al welfare group in the country that has ma ny firsts to its credit. The first of a new gen re of animal protect ion groups that were co ncerned with all animals, the one that pione neered some path breaking initiatives like t he Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme, the firs st time in the world, where the steri lizat ion of street dogs was put forward as a h umane approach to control growing dog population, first in the world to beginiteract ive computer programmes as an alternative ernative to dissection of animals in schools , and the first animal welfare group in India to get the Platinum Level certification for tr ansparency from GuideStar India in 2013.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Chinny Krish na the co-founder of Blue Cross and the Pr aani Mitra awardee from the Indian govern ment for his lifetime of animal service sha red that running any organisation for 60 yea rs was difficult; running a n organisation in the animal welfare fiel d, a Herculean task. Welcoming Mrs. Maneka Gandhi and thank king her for her presence, Dr. Krishna said, “Much of the work done wouldn’t have been possible, but for the sympathetic listener in parllm iament, Mrs. Maneka Gandhi, who w as able to understand what was done and b eing done, and her diligent follow ups with legislation on aspects of animal welfare”.
“Till 1987, the Blue Cross of India was a vo lunteer group with 24×7 ambulance service s driven by off duty Indian Airline es pilots. Of course, it helped that both my parents w ere pilots – my mother, Ush a Sundaram, wa s India’s first woman pilo t and as the pilots of the Mysore Mahara jah’s “luxury” aircraft VT AXX, had the honour and privilege of fly ing Sardar Pate el on his mission to unite th e princely st ates to form the Indian Union. Even toda y, we are fortunate in having a gr oup of professionals who donate their time and efforts on a purely honorary basis to lo ok after much of the administration and spe cial projects like our adaptation and the Gre at Indian Dog Show for Indies an d non-pedi grees. This ensures that dona tions receive ed by us are not unduly erod ed by “adminis trative expenses”, he added.
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