Parag Agarwal is currently an Advisor to the Chairman at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories with a long standing corporate career having held multiple leadership roles. A few years ago, he transitioned from his corporate career to focus on reducing animal suffering, co-founding the India Animal Fund, Ahimsa Trust and TapIndia Foundation. Along with his family—Amol, Deepshikha, and Anusha—he has committed to giving away more than half of their wealth through LivingMyPromise, embracing philanthropy as a shared family value.

I grew up in a small town in India and was exposed to human suffering quite early. When I started my career, I decided to do something for the under-privileged kids who used to beg on the streets while my son used to sit next to me in the car. This realization of inequality and the role that education plays in one’s growth led me to start a foundation to bring under-privileged kids into the schooling system – from my first stock grant in 2013. I always wanted to do something significant to make some impact in the lives of these vulnerable kids.

However, in 2017, I happened to see some PETA videos sent to me by my niece. Though we have always been a vegetarian family (I tried meat a couple of times as a teenager out of curiosity), I had been addicted to milk and milk products like most Indians. When I saw how milk is produced, I was shocked. As I got deeper into the use of animals in our society, I discovered more disturbing facts. It became clear to me that I needed to do my bit for the defenseless animals who are the most vulnerable. First, I changed my habits and have become a strict vegan.

As a family we felt that we have been lucky to have financial abundance – in 2020 we decided to take a giving pledge as a LivingMyPromise signatory, and decided to allocate 90% of our philanthropic capital for the cause of the animals as it is a hugely neglected cause.

There is a lot of human suffering in the world and in India too. It is not appropriate to compare the suffering of different species, but animal suffering is tragic since it is perpetrated by humans, and has become systemic. It has become normalized to such an extent that often it is not easy to find products that have not led to animal suffering, directly or indirectly. I recently discovered that pregnant bovines are slaughtered to extract ‘Foetal Bovine Serum (FBS)’ from their foetus which is used in the pharma industry.

I believe it is possible to raise awareness and reverse this moral atrocity. Human consciousness is expanding – till 100 years back slavery was common, women could not vote in many countries till 50 years back and LGBTQ was considered a mental illness – and the needle has moved so much on each of these issues. I think we humans are gradually accepting that the non-human animals are also sentient beings, and the systemic exploitation needs to end. It will take a generation or more, but we must do what we can as some of the actions will lead to a ripple effect in the years to come. We need to pull all the levers – awareness building, technology, policy & capital. At India Animal Fund, we are taking a series of structural steps to make a long-term impact – this includes raising awareness with multiple stakeholders, launching a collaborative, funding high-risk high-impact initiatives and enabling the NGOs in the movement.

Joining LMP has been a great idea. It removed the uncertainty of whether to publicly talk about giving – now I can freely talk about the cause and what I am trying to do, and raise awareness. It also gives me access to the other LMP members and their connections. They have experimented with various levers, and there is a great deal of wisdom and compassion in this group. I attended my first LMP retreat earlier this year at Bangalore and enjoyed interacting with the group.

One of the best things about working for the animals is the humans one gets to meet – people who are full of compassion, who have resilience. I also greatly benefit from practicing Vipassana meditation as it helps one understand the reality, the impermanence of everything and how humans are doing what they do out of ignorance. May all beings be happy.