Voice of the voiceless: Babita Madhwaraj

In a world that goes on with life, the tedious 9-5 jobs, pending a load of assignments, and busy routine of taking care of a household, there is not much time and effort left for insignificant issues.

Rather, issues are deemed insignificant by us. Well, this is an article about Babita Madhwaraj from Udupi, Karnataka who left the comfortable life of having the security of a job to work on one such ‘insignificant’ issue: Animal Rights and Safety.

Babita on her mission, to be the voice of the voiceless, the power of the powerless, set out to help and spread awareness about the deploring conditions in which animals live. In particular, dogs. She was accompanied by students of Manipal, the media on the journey of finding some meaning in each bark that leaves the helpless dogs.

The establishment of Madhwaraj Animal Care Trust, Malpe proved to be a strong and stable start for her. The foundation aids her in providing homeless dogs some shelter, and hands to take care of them by giving them basic facilities like food and water. Moreover, here, the dogs are given necessary vaccinations along with proper hospitalisation when necessary. The entire process is managed by Babita and her team.

Babita believes that privilege is meant to be used. She admits herself to be privileged and uses the power that comes with the privilege in providing dogs a decent living. Along with that, she realises spreading awareness about these issues is important as well.

For that reason, with joint efforts from her team, she was able to successfully conduct the ‘Great Indian Dog Show’, where Indie breed dogs walked the ramp set on the beach! The event along with her campaign, Namma Swantha Namma Hemme, translating to, Our Own Our Pride, is remembered for making an impact. An impact that urges and encourages people to make a difference, no matter how big or small.

“I am proud to say that Udupi now has only community dogs, no stray dogs.” She said, smiling, thinking of the hundreds of dogs that are now safe, away from the hostile conditions they were in. She truly proves to be the voice of the voiceless; a strong, bold voice.

By Aditi Agarwal and  Rajasik Mukherjee, Media and Communication students at Manipal Institute of Communication