Rajasthan develops India’s first Digital Public Infrastructure in forest sector DigiVan forest stack, CS credits PCCF Amit Banerjee for the job

In a groundbreaking initiative the forest department of Rajasthan led by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Arijit Banerjee has built India’s first Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in the forest sector- the DigiVan Forest Stack. The stack helps in providing seamless data flow across multifunctional departments and can help in forest health monitoring, fire risk management, land use change detection, afforestation planning, unified citizen portal, eco-tourism management, wildlife habitat monitoring, carbon project preparation and green credit registration.
A presentation about the DigiVan DPI was made by Mr. Banerjee at a top-level meeting presided over by the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan V. Srinivas on Thursday. After going through the presentation, CS, Mr. Srinivas congratulated Mr. Banerjee and his team for developing the DPI with multiple applications. The Chief Secretary also recommended that DigiVan be presented at the National e-Governance Conference, while further strengthening data analytics, expanding use-cases, training more officers, involving last-mile officials and replicating best practices across the State.

Appreciating the impressive data, high-quality results and transformative potential of DigiVan, the Chief Secretary directed that monthly rankings of field and HQ units be started immediately based on performance across key metrics

Later in a brief conversation with The Whispers In The Corridors, Mr. Banerjee said the DigiVan stack provides all the information about forests in Rajasthan (mostly available across public platforms or with different departments) seamlessly on a click. The idea is to build a database that will collate and provide data from different departments that work along forests -like Revenue department, Water Resources, Village and Panchayat, Road Transport, Public Works department, Water Works besides horticulture and forestry.

The availability of data on one platform helps better monitoring of forest health and its management and even preparing in advance for weather vagaries. It would be a composite place where any departments, researchers, forest officials and planners can access and plan new projects. He said the DigiVan project was built by the Rajasthan Forest Department in partnership with JICA DXLab.

(Interview with Mr. Arijit Banerjee, PCCF, Rajasthan will be available in July 2026 issue of Whispers In The Corridors magazine)