Guwahati: In a landmark move, the Assam government has officially recognized Aaranyak’s pioneering Wildlife Genetics Laboratory (WGL) for utilizing the expertise in wildlife genetics and wildlife forensic analysis.
This is the first time a laboratory in the wildlife sector in Assam has been recognized under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, a development that is expected to significantly assist law enforcement in wildlife crime investigations.
Acting on an order from the Governor of Assam on August 4, 2025, the state government’s Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department issued a notification formally recognizing the laboratory and its Director, Udayan Borthakur, under Section 329 (4) of the BNSS.
Reacting to the landmark achievement, Udayan Borthakur, the founder of WGL, Aaranyak, stated, “We regard the Government’s notification as a significant acknowledgement of our nearly two decades of work in this field. We also regard this notification as a significant responsibility that falls on our shoulders, and we are grateful to the Government of Assam for entrusting us with this critical responsibility.”
Borthakur says that the notification under Section 329 (4) of BNSS, 2023, will allow the lab and its biologist, as scientific experts, to support law enforcement agencies to gather evidence for forensic analysis in wildlife offences that will facilitate increased conviction rates in the coming days.
Dr. Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, Aaranyak’s Secretary General and Executive Director, expressed his gratitude to the Assam Forest Department for bestowing faith and responsibilities to the organization’s Wildlife Genetics facilities. He noted that the lab has been complementing the government’s conservation efforts and will continue to do so in the future.
The Wildlife Genetics Laboratory, founded in 2008, is Northeast India’s only conservation genetics and wildlife DNA forensics facility.
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Over the past decade, the lab has been providing genetic analysis and on-ground DNA sampling support to 135 wildlife crime investigations by government authorities.
In addition to forensic work, the lab has conducted over two dozen conservation genetic research projects on threatened wildlife species in India and overseas.
