Apart from conducting the Civil Services exam for over a dozen services like IAS, IPS and IFS, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) also recruits the Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers by conducting a different competitive examination open to graduates with science background. After qualifying the written examination, the candidates have to undergo an interview, a walking test and a standard medical fitness test.
CLASSROOM SESSIONS
IFS probationers at Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) have a 16-month training which involve classroom sessions, sports, tours and visits. Speaking with Indian Masterminds IFS probationer Yash Kale of 54 RR of 2022 batch who is currently undergoing training shared that the probationers have to get up for the hour-long physical training (PT) at 6 am that includes basic running, stretching, yoga, meditation and swimming.
Thereafter, from 9-4 PM they have their classroom sessions. The lectures are taken by two kind of faculties, of whom one is the bureaucrats and the other is visiting faculty – an experts like scientists, wildlife experts, zoologists and others. “There are 25 subjects across 4 terms where they take lectures and we have to pass the exams,” he added.
SPORTS SESSIONS
There are many sports meet opportunities at the academy level and at the national level, like All India Sports Meet for forest department, where all forest departments across the country participate in it. Recently, the IFS probationers had a marathon in LBSNAA.
“There are friendly matches with other services or academy, for example recently we had a competition where we competed against the Forest Survey of India (FSI). Then there are inter-service competitions as well with IPS or IAS trainees, when we visit each other’s academy,” Mr. Kale said adding, “Anybody who is into sports will definitely have a great time here.”
TOURS AND VISITS
The other aspect of training is visits and attachments including a week-long training at Indian Military Academy (IMA) and Parliamentary Attachment in Delhi. They also call on the President or Vice President and dignitaries.
Along with this, there are one day visits to various forest institutions like Forest Survey of India, Zoological Survey of India, etc. “We have a very diverse set of tours and attachments at the academy. There are 5-6 tours of 20-25 days each, close to 120 days out of the 16 months training,” Mr. Kale said.
The probationers visit the Police Academy in Hyderabad for the Wildlife Crime Component, where they get to know about crimes, investigations and techniques. There are theme-based tours like the Himalayan tour, state tours, wildlife tour wherein, they are taken to one major national park for 7-8 days.
“We go deep into the forest to see the wildlife from close quarters. We also learn about the best practices that are carried out in the respective states, meet the experts and senior bureaucrats of that state. This helps us in getting the idea of how forest administration is run across the country,” Mr. Kale told Indian Masterminds.
Forest is a concurrent subject, so both center and state have the powers to regulate the forest. Therefore, each state has their own way of regulating the forests.
MESSAGE TO ASPIRANTS
Mr. Kale said that many officers work is getting good recognition through which there is an increase in recognition of the forest service as well. “This is a good message for the aspirants who have newly learned about the service. This is a wonderful place, they should actively try to get into the forest service,” he concluded.
