04-07-2025
‘Hathi-Mitra' on mission to avoid man-elephant conflict
Ranchi: Tapas Karmakar, a young graduate, is bitten by wanderlust and his insatiable desire to be with nature made him join the Wildlife Protection Society of Jharkhand in 2017.
Fresh out of college, Tapas said he did not consider his work a job but more of a calling.
"That is why I wasn't chasing a corporate dream or a position behind a desk. I am more into chasing forests and rivers, basically, responding to the call of the wild," he said.
Born and raised in Ranchi, Tapas found his escape in nature. So, when he got the job of his choice, he immediately started monitoring the movements of elephants on the four govt-notified corridors out of the several in the state and studied the man-animal conflict.
His initial curiosity in the matter turned into a commitment to save both the jumbos and the humans.
"After working for around three years with the wildlife society across the state, I returned to my native village in Baranda of Sonahatu block in Ranchi district during the Covid pandemic period. During that time, a herd of about 40 wild elephants from the Dalma elephant corridor ventured into the village in search of food," Tapas said.
He also said, "The herd started trampling paddy crops, making the already tense relationship between the jumbos and the villagers a more perilous one. No wonder, it resulted in property and crop losses apart from casualties among both the people and the elephants."
Asserting that he needed to intervene and mitigate the problem, Tapas said, "I started tracking the herd's movement and updated the jumbo's location to the villagers on a real-time basis and their potential path through WhatsApp messages, videos and calls, so that they could stay updated and prevent further face-offs with jumbos."
That's how the idea of 'Hathi-Mitra', a WhatsApp group was born. In the group, he started sharing elephant movements, alerting people to take precautions while moving out of their homes, thereby resulting in a decrease in both man and elephant conflicts and casualties.
The WhatsApp group started with only a handful of villagers as members and has now grown to tens of thousands from across the state. The huge number of people is now connected through 12 WhatsApp groups and channels.
The villagers update elephant movements on the groups as soon as they spot any herd, reducing conflicts.
B
ut Tapas didn't stop there. He began educating communities, explaining elephant behaviour, how to stay safe, and most importantly, how to coexist with the biggest animal on land and helping villagers avail compensations from the govt after incurring any elephant-inflicted damage, injuries or casualties.
According to Tapas, communities living near the forest areas — especially the younger generation — need to be educated about the elephants' behaviour, their diet, and other key characteristics of the pachyderms. "This awareness can help discourage the use of outdated, often harmful methods to drive elephants away. Most casualties occur when people attempt to confront elephants directly. Introducing wildlife education into the school curriculum is also essential, so that students grow up with a better understanding of animal behaviour and develop a mindset rooted in coexistence rather than fear and conflict," Tapas added.
