A battle of ideas featured hundreds of young minds with one goal — to provide a technology-based solution to address some pressing biodiversity challenges that India faces.
The Zoological Survey of India organised a 110-hour hackathon in the run-up to its 110th foundation day, celebrated at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in New Town on Monday.
Conducted simultaneously across the ZSI’s 16 regional centres, the event brought together researchers and innovators from diverse backgrounds.
Five teams made it to the grand finale on Monday. They made detailed audio-visual presentations before a panel of judges that included veteran scientists, professors, corporate strategists and representatives of the Union ministry for environment, forest and climate change.
The Union minister for environment, forest and climate change, Bhupender Yadav, was in the audience.
Eventually, three teams were declared winners.
A team from Ladakh University selected from the ZSI’s High Altitude Regional Centre in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, got the first prize of ₹1 lakh.
The team proposed a censor and AI-based monitoring system, along with community-driven conservation, to protect the endangered species and fragile ecosystem of the trans-Himalayan terrain in Ladakh.
The elusive snow leopard is the flagship species for conservation efforts in Ladakh. The Himalayan ibex, which has a near-threatened status, is also vulnerable to poaching. There are more that need conservation.
The major threat leading to habitat degradation is overgrazing by livestock.
“Our solution has two powerful tools. We have combined solar-powered bio-acoustic sensors with an AI-powered mobile application. It is a community-driven and culturally grounded conservation effort. The technology respects local customs and traditions,” said Basharat Ali, a team member.
The second prize of ₹75,000 went to a team from St Anthony’s College, Shillong, Meghalaya. The team was selected from the Northeast Regional Centre in Meghalaya’s capital.
What drew the team to the contest was “an incredible opportunity to showcase the importance of Meghalaya’s subterranean caves”.
Their goal is to conserve the cave ecosystem.
The team has developed a mobile w with data on the caves, a provision of sensor-based data input, and a list of dos and don’ts.
The third prize of ₹50,000 went to a team from Fakir Mohan University, in Balasore, Odisha. The team was selected from the Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre in Digha.
Their pitch, made by Soumyaranjan Dash, was a captive breeding model of the Indian horseshoe crab, one of the oldest living creatures on earth, found along the Odisha-Bengal coastline. Its population has been dwindling because of habitat loss caused by unregulated fishing.
“This nationwide initiative aimed to foster scientific thinking, technological innovation, and collaborative approaches to environmental conservation, aligning with ZSI’s long-standing mission of studying and protecting India’s rich zoological diversity. We want to work with some of these ideas in the future,” said Dhriti Banerjee, director of ZSI.