With more than 4 lakh 65 thousand followers on X (formerly Twitter), Indian Forest Service officer Parveen Kaswan is no less than a celebrity and social media star. Thanks to his beautiful clicks of the wild and interesting posts related to conservation, the otherwise shy officer remains in constant touch with his followers on social media.
In conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Kaswan, who is currently serving as Deputy Director in Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal, shared how social media has made him a more responsible person.
A DOUBLE EDGED SWORD
According to him, social media is a double edge sword because as a user’s reach grows, so does his vulnerability. “Since I am in government service, I have to more careful about what I post. Everything has to be within the guidelines. One can say that I am a celebrity with limitations,” he said.
He also believes that social media has an important role to play in conservation. It is a huge umbrella under which awareness is one aspect. Social media can be well utilized to share information far and wide.
“The message is sent fast and it stays there. Plus there is an instant feedback system which helps to connect one to one with the public,” he said.
FROM ENGINEERING TO FORESTRY
A graduate in aeronautical/space engineering from Amity University, Mr. Kaswan did his Masters in Forestry from the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun. He also did Masters in Engineering Design from IISc Bangalore.
He comes from a humble family of Mirzawali Mer village in the Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan.
Before joining the Indian Forest Service, he worked for sometime in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s divisions in Koraput in Odisha and Lucknow.
When asked what is the major challenge of being an IFS officer, he said, “You have to live in remote areas and difficult terrains. You are away from the spotlight and have to balance between the people living in
those areas while protecting the wildlife. Once you overcome all these and learn to strike a balance, nothing can beat being inside the forest”.
TOUGH TO HANDLE PEOPLE
He further said that right now, the major challenge before the service is to control the man-animal conflicts. If the habitat is well protected and maintained, then there is minimum chance of any animal going stray. In fact, he thinks that it is easy to control wildlife but tough to control the people. “Even when we achieve the best habitat, still there will be fallouts. Those can only be handled with the support of the public. Wildlife conservation is one thing that cannot be done without the community’s help,” he said.
Watch the interview here:
