Indian Forest Service is one of the many prestigious All India Services that are currently the rage among young UPSC aspirants. For anyone who loves nature and wildlife, and have a passion for doing something for the environment, this is the perfect profession to be in.
Recently, the IFS probationers of 54RR of 2022 batch went for their compulsory one-week training at Indian Military Academy (IMA).
Indian Masterminds spoke to one of the probationers, Yash Kale, who shared details about the training.
JOINING FOREST SERVICE
“I come from Nashik, where it has natural beauty and I always had a thing for nature. To be frank, while going for civil services, I didn’t know about this service. However, while filling out the form, I got to know that there is this option, too,” Mr. Kale said.
This was the time when he asked people about this service and its profile. After learning about it enough, he decided to prepare for it alongside his preparation for civil services. He attempted the forest service exam and got through it.
All in all, he made four attempts for UPSC CSE and two for UPSC IFS. He cleared the Indian Forest Service exam with AIR 22 in the second attempt.
TRAINING AT IMA
IFS probationers at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy have to undergo a 16-month course which involve, apart from classroom teaching, a lot of hands-on training and experiences, something known as attachments. Attachments are long visits to certain institutions to get to know their working and the things officers need to know in their service. One of these is a one-week training at the Indian Military Academy (IMA).
During the one-week training period, the IFS probationers are taught weapon handling and horse riding. These two components are handled by the Indian Military Academy.
WEAPON HANDLING
“This is done firstly because of the job profile IFS officers has. They need to be familiar with weapons because they are in charge of law and order in the forest region where they perform functions similar to that of the IPS officers,” Mr. Kale said.
Every year, forest department personnel are being killed either by the animals or by the poachers and encroachers in the forest. IFS officers are generally not expected to use the weapons, because mostly the frontline staffs like rangers, forest guards and beat guards directly go into the forest every day and, as a result, face the highest threat. But, occasionally, when the IFS officers are on field visit, they need to be able to defend themselves. Hence, the weapon handling training.
There are particularly two main acts – Indian Forest Act of 1927 and Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 – that contain provisions that allow the Forest Service officers to arrest and initiate proceedings against miscreants under various sections like illegal felling, illegal killing of animals, starting of forest fire intentionally or any such criminal activities.
“When you are in a position where you can arrest for such criminal activities, there is naturally a risk or threat against the Forest Service officer. So, in order to be familiar with the weapons and to defense oneself or one’s teammates, the weapon handling training is given to all IFS probationers,” Mr. Kale said.
In the weapons training, the IFS probationers are trained with two weapons, one is INSAS rifle that is of 5.56 mm, and the other is a 9 mm pistol.
HORSE RIDING
No doubt, the horse riding component is a bit of a inspiration from past. Back in those days, when connectivity was extremely poor in deep forest areas, the only way to go into the forest was either on elephant or horse back, or on foot.
“On your foot is taken care of by the walking test that happens during the IFS selection, wherein, we need to clear the 25 km walking test before coming to the service,” said Mr. Kale.
Since connectivity has improved significantly, it is actually the skill set that is worth having when it comes to horse riding training, and it is also seen as a mode of engaging the officers in a sporting activity. Later on, many officers take up polo or horse riding as a sport. So, it is in line with both the inspiration from past and imparting an important skill.
Along with this, there is also a small component, wherein the probationers are shown the major institutions that the IMA has, like the swimming pools, auditoriums, gymnasiums, the sentimental Vikram Batra Mess and the famous Chetwood Hall, where the passing-out parade of the gentleman cadets in the Academy takes place.
