The twenty-first century is a century dominated by technology, which permeates every aspect of our lives. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been embraced by the plant sciences for data analysis, archiving, and retrieval. J.M. Garg Ji, an electrical engineer and alumnus of Panjab University, Chandigarh, founded a small Google group "Indiantreepix" on June 17, 2007, to discuss the identification and uses of trees that grow in different parts of India. Later, in order to make it more inclusive, the name was changed to "eFloraofIndia." Over time, more people like me joined, and as a result, its membership eventually grew to more than 3200 members from all around the world. eFloraofIndia celebrated the completion of its highly productive 15 years in June 2022.
Today, eFloraofIndia (eFI) is one
of the largest and best resources available on India Flora on the web. It has a collection of more than 4,00,000
images of more than 14,000 species (out of the total of around
18,000 species found in India). eFI is a dynamic site where
data is updated and improved continuously for about six hours virtually every
day. The eFI website is regularly improved and updated by a group of pillars,
moderators and experts. The precious resources of
eFI are the images, which are shared by its members travelling to every nook
and corner of India. The images are properly identified by a team of experts and
given the final shape at the website. On the eFI website, all contributions are
acknowledged. Botanists, taxonomic experts, bureaucrats, engineers, IT
professionals, researchers, teachers, private professionals, doctors, students,
and laymen are among the committed members of the group.
The best thing about the eFI database is that the taxa have been arranged in Family and genera pages on the website. The detailed discussions by experts can be seen on the species pages. Many photographs shared in the group for identification later became new species or additions to the Flora of India. Some species have been named after the names of eFI members as a due credit for bringing those species in the knowledge of taxonomic experts. A page on threated and endangered species of India is very informative and has links to the images of those plants contributed by its members.
Everyone will be amazed to learn that throughout the last 15 years, while constructing this largest citizen science initiative, not a single rupee has been collected from any source. The collective efforts of the group members are worth thousands of crores of rupees, if ever assessed in terms of money. But there is no way to quantify the devoted work that its members and specialists from around the world put in. It is a worthwhile lesson to be taught in colleges and universities as it provides an excellent example of one of the biggest citizen science initiatives in India.
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