BAGH initiative

BAGH — Bite Avoidance Guard Helmet: An Innovation for Human–Tiger Conflict Mitigation. We initiated the project at Sister Nivedita University (SNU), Kolkata, with a simple but deeply important question: can we develop a protective system that gives people working in the Sundarbans a better chance of surviving a tiger attack? Fishers, crab collectors, honey gatherers and other forest-dependent communities face significant risks while entering tiger-inhabited landscapes to sustain their livelihoods. Drawing on my longstanding interest in human–animal relationships and human–wildlife conflict, I wanted to explore a practical intervention that could help protect these communities, particularly against a potentially catastrophic first bite to the head or neck. My guiding philosophy is simple: protect the first bite and give the fisher a fighting chance to return home. Working with an interdisciplinary team at SNU, comprising Dr. Rama Ranjan Bhattacharjee, Mr. Tanmoy Nandi and Mr. Ashim Gyan, I have been taking this idea from a concept towards a physical prototype. Unlike a conventional helmet, BAGH is designed as an integrated protective wearable system incorporating an enclosed helmet, facial guard, extended neck protection, shoulder guards, upper-torso protection and an adjustable retention system. The project has received institutional support from SNU’s Research and Development Cell, Innovation Council and Centre for Climate, Sustainability and Transdisciplinary Research. On 15 August 2026, we formally handed over the first physical design concept to the Sundarban Tiger Widow Welfare Society. This was followed by a stakeholder consultation on 25 August 2026 with representatives of the Sundarban Tiger Reserve, local community members and an experienced fisher. These discussions reinforced an essential principle: the design must not only be protective in concept but also wearable, comfortable and practical in the hot, humid and saline conditions of the Sundarbans. I am now working to take BAGH into its next phase of design refinement, prototype development, engineering testing and field-oriented validation. I hope to collaborate with the Forest Department, conservation organisations such as the Wildlife Trust of India, technical experts and the communities for whom this intervention is intended. I believe that any meaningful solution to human–wildlife conflict must bring human safety and wildlife conservation into the same conversation. BAGH is still a developing prototype; its protective capabilities have not yet been established through testing, and I do not claim that it is a tiger-proof device. My aim is to develop and evaluate the design responsibly, informed by scientific evidence and the lived experiences of Sundarbans communities. Ultimately, I hope this work can contribute, even in a small way, to reducing the human cost of human–tiger conflict. If an idea we have helped bring into reality can one day help save a life, that would be an honour.