Kaziranga National Park

Context:

• Kaziranga has become the first National Park in India to have been equipped with satellite phones.

Need:

• For boosting anti-poaching measure.
• The satellite phones will be used in pockets of the park’s six ranges with no wireless or poor mobile connectivity.
• The satellite phones will give an edge to the forest personnel over the poachers and also during emergencies like floods.

About satellite Phones

• Satellite phones, are generally used by the law-enforcing agencies.
• The public is barred from using satellite phones in India.
• The Government of India has issued an advisory that the use of Thuraya/Irridium satellite phone in India are banned and unauthorised/illegal in India under Section 6 of Indian Wireless Act and Section 20 of Indian Telegraph Act.
• Satellite phones uses radiowaves radiation for communication.
• Satellite phones send radio signals to a satellite which then transmits back down to earth where a station will then route the call to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
• Unlike traditional cell phones that rely on cell towers, satellite phones work anywhere on earth. Satellite networks are the only networks offering reliable communication.
• For this reason, satellite phones work anywhere, even in the most remote areas of the world.

About KNP:

• Kaziranga National park’s is home to more than 2200 Indian one-horned rhinoceros, approximately 2/3rd of their total world population.
• It is located in the edge of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspots – Golaghat and Nagaon district.
• In 1985, it was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
• It was declared as Tiger Reserve in 2006.
• It is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for the conservation of avifaunal species.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/kaziranga-guards-equipped-with-satellite-phones/article35865076.ece