Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers are trained at India Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) in Dehradun which had a rich forest like ambience. Forest Research Institute (FRI) in the neighbourhood too has rich flora and fauna. However, people know little about them. A detailed catalogue of these two prestigious national institutions, prepared by the 2019-batchbatch IFS officers is a fine example of how collective efforts with creativity can do wonders to provides a in depth knowledge to present DBE future generations.
They also started ‘Know Your Campus’ (KYC) and ‘Being IFS’ initiatives to disseminate complete information about the campus and the service. ‘Being IFS’ provides information on everything from the IFS exam to its training. This complete information can be seen on the website of both the institutes and in their newsletters.
Speaking to Indian Masterminds, 2019-batch IFS officer Abhimanyu Singh said, “Our training took place during pandemic in 2019-20. People were locked at home and so were us in the FRI campus. We felt that we should do something that would benefit us as forest officers and also utilize our time”
That’s when this project was undertaken. Species-wise detailed information was given about the diversity of the campus and its wildlife. Along with this, a detailed information report was prepared on many other things of the campus.
KNOW YOUR CAMPUS
The New Forest – the IFS training campus – an area which houses the Forest Research Institute (FRI) and its sister institutions including the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) are also home to a rich biodiversity. The campus also has heritage buildings, museums, nurseries and a beautiful landscape.
This project is aimed at making trainee forest officers familiar with their neighbourhood. The flora and fauna of the campus was explained in detail. There is documentation of all the movies shot in FRI.
This was a time for them to showcase their creativity and enrich their knowledge. Mr. Abhimanyu said, “In 2019 batch, many trainee IFS officers had good photography skills, some had good designing. Everyone pitched in. We have described unique and selected species, which could make interesting read.”
“We not only wanted to know about the campus ourselves, but also wanted to inform the people outside the campus about it.”, 2019 batch IFS officer Naveen Reddy told Indian Masterminds.
SIMILAR INITIATIVE
Earlier 2009 batch IFS officer D K Vinod Kumar had documented wildlife in FRI Campus. He is presently is a faculty at WII, Dehradun. So how 2019 batch initiative is different from him? Mr. Abhimanyu said, “Vinod Sir had made a bird book. All the birds in FRI were described in that book. IFS officers under training read that book.”
Mr Naveen said, “Our initiative is more interactive. We have made a detailed report on birds and the campus. Even common people can also understand it easily.”
BEING IFS
This initiative was started keeping the aspirants in mind. Everything related to IFS preparation and its training is there. What is required to become an IFS officer, how to prepare for the exam, what happens in the training of IFS, all this information will be available on the website of Being IFS. People can see it on beingifs.in.
