Forest Dept, Wildlife Trust to set up centralised mgt system to monitor crimes

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Forest Department has joined hands with Wildlife Trust of India to establish a customised version of a special software -"HAWK" to help them in managing, monitoring forest and wildlife offences on a digital platform, officials said on Saturday.

This special software system - Hostile Activity Watch Kernel (HAWK) will act as the nerve centre of the forest department where data related to wildlife deaths, wildlife crimes, information related to suspects, movement of suspicious activities, court procedure details, among others are stored.

It will help forest officials to act timely and take preventive measures to curb such offences, they said.

The system was first officially launched in Kerala in 2019 in collaboration with the state forest department there and it is currently being customised by the WTI for the Karnataka Forest Department, officials said.

According to WTI, the HAWK is a Cloud Based Information Management System designed to manage interlinked databases of wildlife crime, criminals, and wildlife mortality, and help officials analyse the information and develop actionable intelligence to prevent wildlife crimes and curb illegal trade.

The system also has dedicated modules to manage entire documentation procedures regarding these cases. The system connects the entire state forest department in real-time.

Subhash K Malkhede, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden of Karnataka said the HAWK system will help the department to manage and monitor data regarding forest and wildlife offences across the state.

"Right now, we don't have a very structured database for all the wildlife cases that are being registered. So, we signed a MOU with the Wildlife Trust of India a year ago. It is called the HAWK system which is already being used by the Kerala Forest Department. However, we are getting this specialised software system as per our code and manual. It may take another six months. Presently, we are testing the model using old data," he said.

This system will improve the overall efficiency of the department in crime management, he added. According to officials, around 6,000 frontline forest officials across the state will be trained by the WTI to ensure smooth implementation of the system.

WTI has already started its training sessions. A team headed by Biswajit Mishra, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests initiated the customisation process of HAWK around a year ago.

"When the online system starts, we will have all forest and wildlife offence related information with us like details of the offender, sections of cases, materials seized, details of arrests. All the details which are already there in the manual form are being digitised and is being done by our own staff using this platform," he said.

"This platform is being customised to our requirement because WTI has done something for Kerala and we require a slightly e different system, so they are customising it for us....Our data entry is going on. Currently we are working on an online system where details related to new cases can be updated. It will take at least six months for it to be developed.