M-STrIPES Usage in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve : Success,

challenges and way ahead

PRAKHAR MISRA1 AND RAMESH PANDEY2
1
Attached Officer, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, IFS 2016, UP Cadre
2
Field Director, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, IFS 1996, UP Cadre
1. Introduction

1.1 Background of M-STrIPES

M-STrIPES stands for Monitoring System for Tigers - Intensive Protection & Ecological Status. It is a
software system designed and developed by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in
collaboration with Tiger Cell at Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The software system consists of 2
mobile applications and a desktop based analysis software. The android based mobile applications
namely 'Patrol' and 'Ecological' are used by field staff to record their patrolling observations. Desktop
version software is used to analyze the patrolling activity carried out in an area [1-2].

1.2 Dudhwa Tiger Reserve

Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) consists of three divisions namely Dudhwa Tiger Reserve Division
(Referred as Dudhwa Division) which comprises Dudhwa national park and Kishanpur Wildlife
Sanctuary, Katerniaghat Division which comprises of Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary and Buffer
Division which comprises fragmented forests in the periphery of other two divisions. Entire area of
Dudhwa tiger reserve is 2201.77 km2. Being in Terai area, the forests of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve has
extremely rich floral and faunal diversity and has presence of several mega faunal species such as,
Indian Elephant, Indian Rhinoceros, Sloth Bear, Indian Leopard and Bengal Tiger. Further, due to
human dominated landscape, there is immense pressure on forest for grazing and encroachment for
agricultural cultivation. There has been activity of organized poachers and timber mafias in the area,
who use porous Nepal border for the safe passage. All these factors make the protection work at
Dudhwa tiger reserve immensely important and a daunting task.
1.3 Importance of M-STrIPES

M-STrIPES provides an apt platform to document patrolling observations regarding water body, animal
sighting, anthropogenic disturbances, animal mortality etc. on a mobile. while on a patrol. The data
collected by users can provide following insights on forest and patrolling activities being carried out

i. Temporal, spatial and patrol method wise analysis of patrols

ii. Spatial distribution of animals, temporal sighting characteristics, Cause based death analysis
iii. Water availability in water holes at different times
iv. Anthropogenic influences and action taken

Apart from these, the usage of application provides a platform to quantitatively measure patrol efforts
across ranges and across individuals. This helps in identifying the individuals who patrol the designated
area regularly even during night hours. The application provides a credible documentation of systematic
patrolling activity being carried out. This facilitates monitoring and showcasing the work done for
protection of forest and wildlife.

2. M-STrIPES usage in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve

2.1 Need of application usage

Operation Monsoon patrolling was started in DTR on 1st June. Intensive patrolling of forest area was
being done in all the ranges of DTR. To monitor the patrolling activities, Whatsapp groups were created
at the divisional level by concerned Deputy Director (DD) and at circle level by the Field Director (FD),
DTR. The patrollers were supposed to click their pictures during the patrol and send them on the group.
These groups were monitored daily by the DD & FD and the required inputs were given by the park
managers regarding the areas, which must be patrolled. Special attention was given on uniform of staff
and they were advised to be present in proper attire during the field visit [Fig.1]. Though a considerable
amount of patrolling was being done in harsh humid climate of Terai region by the field staff, but it was
difficult to document the patrolling efforts in a systematic manner. Moreover there was a need to
identify those field staff who were doing the patrol more intensively as compared to others and give
them reward and recognition. M-STrIPES appeared to be a solution of this need to monitor, analyze and
document the patrol efforts [3-4].

2|Page
 Fig. 1 : Patrolling pictures shared by field staff on Whatsapp groups during Monsoon Patrolling

2.2 Initiation of application usage

Patrol application was started to be used from 1st July 2018. It was started on pilot basis in 3 ranges, one
from each division. Mailani range from Buffer division, North Sonaripur from DTR division and Sujauli
range from Katerniaghat division were chosen at the start. A training workshop was conducted by WWF
along with experts from WII on 28th July 2018 wherein the field staff were told basic know how of the
application. The field staff were trained to record all the patrol observations on the device, however the
major focus was to make the users capable of starting the application and once the GPS track of patrol
comes up on the screen, a screenshot of GPS track was to be taken and sent to the already functional
Whatsapp groups. [Fig. 2]

Fig. 2 : Messages sent on Whatsapp group sharing screenshot of patrol tracks from application

3|Page
The users who were regular in posting the tracks on group were rewarded and appreciated by the
officials. This encouraged field staffs from other ranges to install the application in their personal
mobiles. The number of users increased from 15 in July to 50 in September.

In this initial phase, several challenges were faced in putting the application to usage, some of them are

i. Most of the field staff is above 40 years of age and was not accustomed to field patrol. He was
expected now to not only go for field patrol but also to inculcate technology. This adoption
required significant push from the park managers, through various rewards and discouragement
tactics.

ii. The devices with most of the field staff were not compatible with the required android version.
The application requires Android version 6 and above. This has been a major reason for limited
adoption of the M-STrIPES based patrol.

iii. In some Samsung devices, patrol application does not work in background mode. As a result
the application stops working if a call is made / received, a message is sent or camera is used
while using the patrol application. The workaround solution adopted is that every time the staff
carries out these activities, the patrol application is restarted in continue old patrol mode.

iv. In some devices, there were issues with GPS triangulation, either it too excessively long time to
triangulate the GPS or it did not triangulate at all. The workaround solution adopted is to first
open Google maps, once the GPS point becomes visible on Google map then patrol application
is opened, this facilitates GPS triangulation in patrol application.

v. Several areas in forest are devoid of network connections. In such places the application can be
used only with the devices that have standalone GPS, however most of the devices with field
staff have Assisted GPS that is GPS works with support of mobile network. This is major
impediment in usage of patrol application in deep forest areas.

vi. The application consumes significant power as a result battery drains out quickly. Power bank
is being used along with by the field staff.

2.3 Data collection and analysis

In the next phase, there was usage of desktop version wherein the patrol tracks saved in mobile devices
were imported in the software and analyzed. As this process started, the users were instructed to ensure

4|Page
that the patrol tracks are saved, the data backup is taken and the backup file is timely sent to the division
office. In this phase there were some new challenges which came into light, some of these are :

i. In some mobile devices with latest Android version, the M-STrIPES backup file is generated
in the mobile but it is not visible when the device is connected to PC. The workaround
solution is to disconnect the mobile from PC and copy paste the backup file within the
mobile. This will make the backup file visible when the device will be connected to PC

ii. There is a condition inbuilt in Desktop version software which rejects the track that originate
from outside the forest area. This created lot of problem as several patrolling tracks
originating from Headquarters could not be imported due to this condition. As temporary
solution for the problem, the grid file (from which the software checks whether GPS point is
within the forest or not ) was increased to include headquarter also.

iii. Data importing takes excessively long time (especially after grid expansion) and at times
report new tracks as being Duplicate of already existing tracks. In such cases, if the computer
operator does not override the prompt and selects the duplicate files to be imported, the new
tracks will not be imported.

iv. The name of users, who have registered their name in Hindi in the patrol application is not
showed in alphabets in the desktop version, due to scripting issues. These names have to be
manually corrected for all the patrolling tracks done by such individuals. Gradually all the
users are being registered in English in the patrol application

v. Foot patrolling is done by field staff after reaching the designated beat or section. The field
staff generally uses cycle or motor cycle to reach to the designated area. Since he starts the
patrol from the chauki itself, so the mode of patrol is chosen as motor cycle. Ideally once he
reaches the forest and carries out a foot patrol, a new patrol must be started with foot chosen
as the method. However the field staff is not doing the same primarily to avoid multiple
entries that are to be filled while starting a new patrol and also because many forest areas are
devoid of network connection. In such areas, a new patrol cannot be started with A-GPS
device.
vi. To avoid multiple entries that are to be filled while starting a new patrol, various field staff
were preferring to use continue old patrol option. This adversely affects temporal analysis.
The users have been asked to not use continue old patrol option if the time gap is more than
5-6 hours.

5|Page
After the analysis of patrol tracks M-STrIPES based patrol report were made. First report was from
Dudhwa division in the month of August 2018. Since then there has been a significant improvement in
the usage of patrol as well as analysis of patrol in the report. By January 2019 11 reports have been
generated from entire Dudhwa tiger reserve. 5 reports from Dudhwa division, 3 reports from Buffer and
Katerniaghat each. The Desktop version provides the platform to analyze spatial analysis in an insightful
manner. However the portal to analyze non spatial analysis is not very elaborate and there is no platform
in the software to analyze temporal analysis. As a result, non spatial analysis and temporal analysis is
being carried out in Microsoft Excel.

2.4 Expansion of application usage

By January 2019, almost all the field staff who had suitable smart-phones, started to use the application.
Still there was tremendous scope of improvement in terms of application usage. The major impediment
was to provide the patrollers with a mobile device that has standalone GPS and android version 6 and
above. As a result Lenovo K8 plus handsets were procured and distributed to field staff in Dudhwa
division. In few ranges, these allocated devices have not been registered in the name of a particular
individual rather, these devices have been registered on patrol application with a generic name of
Patrolling party. These devices are given to different individuals for patrolling based on decision of
range officer. The objective is to cover the entire range with the patrol application every month.

By now the application users are well acquainted with starting the patrol application and saving the
patrol data. However very few users are documenting the patrol observations. In this expansion phase,
the focus now is to train and encourage the field staff to report the animal signs that are observed during
patrolling. The name of users that report the animal sighting, are listed in a separate table in the
bimonthly report and these advanced users are appreciated and have been assigned the responsibility to
train other users from their range in reporting the sighting observations. Once users will become
comfortable in reporting sightings then they will be trained further to record observations regarding
waterhole, animal death and anthropogenic disturbances.

3. Quantification of application usage and patrol efforts

3.1 Number of users

There has been continuous increase in number of M-STrIPES users across the divisions. Number of
users has shot up from 15 in July 2018 to 111 in January 2019. Major push factor for the field staff has
been continuous monitoring and questioning by higher officials regarding the reason for non usage of
application. The pull factor has been the rewards and appreciation in front of peers given to the
6|Page
application users by Deputy Director and the Field Director. As the number of users increased, the
inertia among forest staff regarding usage of application decayed down and they gradually adopted the
application. Fig. 3 shows the number of application users in the 3 divisions of DTR in different months.
The sharp increase in number of users in Dudhwa division in the month of January has been due to
procurement of handsets and their distribution. The number of users in Buffer and Katerniaghat division
is yet to take that leap as the devices have not been procured there yet.

Number of Users
(July 2018 to Janaury 2019)

Katerniaghat Division Buffer Divison Dudhwa Division 52

35 37

22 22 22 24 22
20 18 19 20
16 15 15 15
8 10 12
3 4

July August September October November December January

Fig. 3 : Number of M-STrIPES users in different months in 3 divisions of DTR

3.2 Patrol distance and Patrol tracks

4455 patrol tracks, covering a distance of 93648 km could be uploaded successfully on the desktop
version portal. This does not include the patrol distance covered in July, some patrol tracks from August
could not be imported due to deletion from individual devices. Taking them and other instances of data
loss into account, it can be safely assumed that roughly a patrol of 100000 km has been covered by the
staff of DTR with M-STrIPES. The average distance travelled per division per month is 5203 km,
however it is distributed unevenly, with the patrolling distance being less in earlier months. Average
number of tracks comes out to be 248 per month, i.e. roughly 8-9 teams patrol daily in each of the
divisions, with M-STrIPES device, which at range level can be construed as one team per range daily
uses the application for patrolling. The patrol efforts of Dudhwa division in the month of January, i.e.
744 patrols with a distance of 13382 km is a good representation of on ground patrol efforts, though

7|Page
even now there is further scope of capturing more ground patrol with the help of M-STrIPES application
in Dudhwa. It can be expected that once new devices are procured and distributed in Buffer and
Katerniaghat, the patrol distance and number of tracks in these divisions will also be in this range.

Patrol Distance
(August 2018 to January 2019)
Katerniaghat Division Buffer Divison Dudhwa Division

13382

9789

7348

4675 5021
3263 4131 3657 4300 4267 4421 4307 4511 4539 4696
3488 3594 4259

August September October November December January

Fig. 4 : Patrol distance covered with M-STrIPES in different months in 3 divisions of DTR

Number of Patrol Tracks

(August 2018 to January 2019)
Katerniaghat Division Buffer Divison Dudhwa Division
744

350
301 304 305 271
245 267
220 185 196 189
120 145 129
168 145 171

August September October November December January

Fig. 5 : Patrol distance covered with M-STrIPES in different months in 3 divisions of DTR

8|Page
3.3 Spatial coverage of patrol

Fig. 6 : Spatial analysis of patrol tracks on desktop version

Fig. 7 : Patrol intensity analysis (patrol distance covered is normalized on 25 km2 grid)

The patrolling done in months of September 2018 and January 2019. Each blue line shows a patrol track
of some user. Considering the lack of devices, it can't be concluded that the areas showing absence of
blue lines have not been patrolled. In most of the cases, these areas do not have network and as a result
patrol application can't be used in these areas with A-GPS devices. With procurement of new smart
phones having standalone GPS, this problem can be solved and with time the ranges will be covered

9|Page
more exhaustively. Figure 7 shows the patrol intensity of distance covered in 5 x 5 km grid. Grids with
green color show that more than 90% of the grid was covered.

3.4 Impact of M-STrIPES Usage

Regular patrolling by field staff led to significant enforcement activity in the tiger reserve. Table 1
shows, the division wise bifurcation of number of forest offenders sent to Jail. There has been increase
of 2.5 times in the offenders sent to jail during the period of June 2018 to January 2019 as compared to
previous year

No. of offenders sent to Jail from No. of offenders sent to Jail

SNo. Name of Division
June 2018 to January 2019 from June 2017 to January 2018

1 Katerniaghat Division 70 30
2 Buffer Division 38 18
Dudhwa Tiger Reserve
3 35 12
Division
Grand Total 143 60

One of the prominent case has been arrest of International golfer Jyoti Singh Randhawa, who was
arrested with his aide, early in the morning at around 5:30 AM by the forest staffs who were on their
routine patrol on foggy winter morning of 26 December. The significant achievement made by Dudhwa
Tiger Reserve in implementation of M-STrIPES has been appreciated by NTCA and quoted as an
exemplary activity to be followed by all tiger reserves [5-6].

4. Way forward and scope of improvement

As the application users will start to report animal sightings, animal mortality, anthropogenic
disturbances and water body status an elaborate analysis will be carried out highlighting the areas of
animal presence and these areas can then be more intensively patrolled. Analysis of sighting timing can
provide a further insight on behavior of animals found in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve. Data on water holes
status will make it convenient for park managers to arrange for filling of artificial water holes.
Anthropogenic disturbances data can be used to identify the areas with maximum biotic pressure.

There are various modifications required in the patrol application and desktop version to facilitate the
usage on field and for carrying out analysis of patrol tracks. The suggestions for these modifications
have been sent to WII. Some of these are:

10 | P a g e
 i. Patrol tracks module at desktop version needs to be altered to provide a pointer on each of the
patrol track that moves on the path covered to show the presence of patroller at different times
during the track. This will help to cross check the mode of patrolling and to ascertain the
position of user at a given time

ii. Improvised version of patrol application is required that takes data from GPS even when a
mobile is inactive, especially for Samsung devices.

iii. Patrol app should have an option to change the mode of patrolling during the patrol so that the
user can change it to foot while carrying out a foot patrol, without having to start a new patrol.

iv. Multiple entries that are to be done before starting a new patrol. The application must have an
option to auto fill the form based on previous entries or already saved default entry. This will
make it convenient for users to start a new patrol as and when required.

The usage of M-STrIPES in Dudhwa tiger reserve has been a continuously evolving exercise and is yet
to achieve its pinnacle. With procurement of devices and gradual increase in understanding about the
application among field staff, it can be used further to capture the patrol efforts and carry out insightful
analysis on patrolling, available fauna and various biotic pressures.

5. Acknowledgement

The authors express their heartfelt gratitude to Shri Pawan Kumar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest
& Head of Forest Force, Uttar Pradesh and Shri Sunil Pandey, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest
(Wildlife), Uttar Pradesh, who provided valuable guidance and motivation to the team of Dudhwa Tiger
Reserve.

The successful implementation of M-STrIPES in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve would not have been possible,
without dedicated efforts of Shri Mahaveer Kaujalgi (Deputy Director, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve
Division), Shri Anil Patel (Deputy Director, Buffer Zone, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve) and Shri Gyan
Prakash Singh (Divisional Forest Officer, Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve).

The authors are grateful to Dr. Yadvendradev V Jhala (Scientist-G, WII), Shri Raja Ram Singh (AIG,
NTCA), and the team at Tiger Cell, WII especially Mr. Mr. Ujjwal Kumar and Mr. Prabir De who
helped immensely in resolving technical glitches in usage of M-STrIPES.

11 | P a g e
6. References

1. http://www.moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/mstripes.pdf
2. http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/magazines/conservation/10836-mstripes--a-protective-web-for-
indias-tiger-forests.html
3. http://wcsindia.org/home/2018/07/20/monsoon-patrolling-through-the-deep-slushy-forest-of-
dudhwa/
4. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/gps-aids-patrol-teams-in-dudhwa-during-
rains/articleshow/65406691.cms
5. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/after-dudhwa-success-adopt-m-stripe-app-
based-patrolling-ntca/articleshow/67532003.cms
6. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/better-patrolling-helped-foresters-nab-
golfer/article25866026.ece

12 | P a g e