It may sound like a clarion call but if hunting and poaching continues, the coming generations would be reading about ‘the national animal’ tigers and ‘Rajasthan’s state bird’ the great Indian bustard in books. The fast drooping numbers of GIBs and tigers is a matter of concern for the forest department. Accordingly, they’ve unveiled ‘Project Tiger’ and ‘Project Great Indian Bustard’ to preserve critically endangered forest dwellers.
Over the years, Rajasthan forest department developed secure green spots, such as the Sariska Tiger Reserve, Ranthambore and Jaisalmer grasslands to create a secure shelter for Great Indian Bustard and tigers. Their effort showed colors when the state registered 44% spurt in tiger population. Moreover, the state dispatched up to 50 GIB eggs to the neighboring states for sharing of gene pool.
Wildlife Monitoring Gets a Shot in the Arm as Government Employs Satellite Technologies for Conservation
Taking one step further in this direction, the government will use satellite technologies to monitor wildlife progress in tiger and bustard inhabited areas. They’ll use e patrolling software to monitor remote regions of the forest. This e patrolling software ‘E-Patrol’ is developed by a Bangalore-based company. The union forest ministry has already employed it in 20 other tiger reserves of the country.
Gajendra Khimsar (Forest Minister, Rajasthan) launched the e patrolling software in Ranthambore on February 9 this year. Through this software, the government has covered the entire 1700 square kilometer region of Kailadevi and Ranthambore forests. The software is installed in GPS-enabled smart phones that cost around Rs 30 lakh.
How will E Patrolling Software Help Control Forest Mishaps, Hunting & Poaching
- Every day, the guards positioned at different locations in forest reserves have to take selfies using their geo-tagged phones while patrolling. These photos will be uploaded on the server to notify the nearest base stations.
- If the officers spot a tree stump, pug mark, bullet shells or animal carcass anywhere in the forest, they’ll immediately click a picture and it’ll automatically get circulated to software enabled systems and phones.
- The software aims at ensuring wildlife crime control, effective habitat monitoring, area patrolling and animal security. It’ll also ensure accountability of forest guards and enhance transparency in their functioning.
- The field managers will be able to maintain information on GIS (geographic information system) domain that can be monitored from anywhere in Rajasthan.
As of now, the concept of e patrol is fully operational in just Ranthambore. However, the government is planning to launch it in other regions like Sariska and Jaisalmer, as well. The forest officers are hopeful it’ll help resolve the existing problem in hand.
