Chhattisgarh forest officer felicitated for use of AI-based elephant tracking app
Raipur (PTI): A Chhattisgarh-cadre Indian Forest Service officer has bagged the 'Eco Warrior Award 2024' for using an artificial intelligence-based tracking and alert application to prevent human-elephant conflicts, officials said on Sunday.
Varun Jain, deputy director of the Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve (USTR) in Gariaband district, received the award in the "best use of technology in conservation" category at an event in Delhi last week, they said.
Jain and a USTR team developed the 'Chhattisgarh Elephant Tracking and Alert' application in association with the FMIS (Forest Management Information System) and wildlife wing.
They have been using the app at the reserve since February 2023.
Talking to PTI, Jain said the app serves as an early warning system by sending out alerts through phone calls, SMSes, and WhatsApp messages to people living in a 10 km radius whenever trackers on foot patrol detect the presence of tuskers.
The AI system identifies villages in a 10 km radius of the elephant herds and dispatches notifications through phone calls, voice messages, and text messages to residents, specifically people whose mobile numbers are linked to their names and GPS locations, he said.
Alerts are specifically sent to "kotwars" (village-level revenue personnel), panchayat members, and forest management committees, Jain said, adding that audio messages are also circulated as a warning.
The official claimed there have been no human-elephant conflicts in the USTR area since the launch of the app one and a half years ago.
Besides acting as a warning system, Jain said the app also facilitates the systematic collection and analysis of data, providing invaluable insights to make informed decisions about elephant corridors and habitat development and proactive measures to mitigate human-animal conflicts.
He pointed out that 15 forest divisions facing the elephant menace in the state have adopted the app, considerably reducing such conflicts.
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Irreparable loss for all of us, EY says on death of 26-year old CA due to workload
New Delhi, Sep 18: Ernst & Young on Wednesday issued a statement after the death of a 26-year-old Chartered Accountant allegedly due to extreme work pressure at the firm, went viral on social media and turned the spotlight on work-related stress.
"We are deeply saddened by Anna Sebastian's tragic and untimely passing in July 2024," EY said.
Since the death, EY has been in touch with the family, helping them but it is only now that her family has chosen to write to the company, complaining about the "excessive workload".
EY said it would continue to improve and provide a healthy workplace in its offices throughout the country.
Anna Sebastian Perayil, who passed her CA exams in 2023, worked at EY Pune office for four months before she succumbed. Her mother this month wrote to EY India chairman Rajiv Memani flagging the 'glorification' of overwork at the multinational consulting firm.
"Anna was a part of the Audit team at S R Batliboi, a member firm of EY Global, in Pune for a brief period of four months, joining the firm on 18 March 2024. That her promising career was cut short in this tragic manner is an irreparable loss for all of us," the EY said in the statement.
It went on to state that while no measure can compensate for the loss experienced by the family, the firm has provided all the assistance and will continue to do so.
"We are taking the family's correspondence with the utmost seriousness and humility. We place the highest importance on the well-being of all employees and will continue to find ways to improve and provide a healthy workplace for our 100,000 people across EY member firms in India," it added.
