Garudakshi Offence Management System

The Forest Department is set to roll out Garudakshi, a cloud-based Forest Offence Information Management System, in the next three to four months, aiming to streamline and strengthen the handling of forest offence cases.

Garudakshi will guide forest and investigating officers through every step of managing forest offences, from filing FIRs to applying relevant sections of forest and wildlife protection laws.
The software aims to improve the conviction rate in forest offence cases by ensuring a thorough and standardized approach to evidence collection and case management.
Continuity of case management will be maintained even after the transfer of the officer who originally filed the case, addressing a major challenge in the current system.
Garudakshi is being developed in collaboration with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and under the supervision of the Forest Department's Information and Communication Technology Centre (ICT).
The software will operate through two modules: one for handling legacy cases and another for addressing new cases as they arise.
Over 90,000 legacy cases, including those related to encroachment, poaching, timber, and other wildlife offences, have already been digitized in Garudakshi to ensure continuous follow-up and monitoring.
Pilot testing of the software is currently underway in the Belagavi and Shivamogga forest divisions, with a full rollout planned after training officials in the coming months.