Govt mulls wider forest service exam ambit

The ministry is mulling including subjects like bio-technology and social sciences in the ambit of the IFS exam.

Updated on: Apr 1, 2012, 21:42:41 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

For lovers of forests and wildlife, there is some good news. The new format of the Indian Forest Service exam likely to be introduced from 2013 could allow students from science and technology streams other than the conventional ones.

The environment ministry is in talks with the Union Public Service Commission on the new format, which can attract a large section of students without diluting the objectives of the paper. The modified format could come into force by next year.

Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh had initiated the process of reform in the IFS exam to attract youngsters from various fields to the forest service. India has 3,034 IFS officers with 66% of them being direct recruits.

The remaining is promoted from state government forest cadres.

But in the past 14 years, more officers than that required were hired, resulting in reduction of promotion avenues and frustration among the cadre, a ministerial committee to review the IFS system had said in May 2011.

Through the new format, the government aims to fill vacancies and create an efficient forest service to protect wildlife and forests while looking after the needs of people dependent on forests for their livelihood.

Graduates of traditional science subjects such as botany, zoology and math were allowed to appear for national IFS examination.

The ministry is now considering including subjects such as bio-technology and social sciences in the ambit of the IFS exam.

“The current day Indian Forest Service is more exciting and challenging than ever before,” said Dr PJ Dilip Kumar, director-general of forests and special secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests, to the students and IFS probationers during the Foundation Day lecture at the Indian Institute of Forest Management in Bhopal recently In recent years, the role of forest officials have widened with increasing interface with local communities and inclusion of scientific tools in managing forests.

The environment ministry has decided to expand the eligibility criteria for IFS, started by the British in 1864, as part of an exercise to restructure the forest bureaucracy with an aim to make it modern and competitive and is seeking the UPSC’s approval.

In a bid to get better quality candidates for the IFS, the ministry has worked out a test in English language and general study.

In addition, the exam will be conducted in all languages as applicable for other all Indian service examinations.

The ministry also wants the UPSC to increase the intake of IFS officers on annual basis to fill up the vacant posts.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.