Prajna Chowta
Prajna Chowta has been conferred with the Knight in the National Order of Merit (Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Merite), one of the highest civilian recognitions of the French government, in recognition of a life devoted to caring for wild Asian elephants. She is the Indian film-maker, elephant researcher and the founder of Aane Mane Foundation, which for the past 16 years has been researching and conserving wild Asian elephants. As a researcher, she was also instrumental in developing an online monitoring system and one of the first GPS collars for elephants in India.