Indian Forest Service (IFoS) is one among the three All India Services of the government of India. The main responsibility of the IFS is to implement the National Forest Policy. The National Forest Policy aims to ensure the ecological stability of the country through participatory sustainable management and protection of natural resources. Usually, an IFS officer supposed to take various positions in state forest departments. The highest-ranking of IFS officials in each state is called as the Head of Forest Forces. It is one of the productive and prosperous careers that offer permanent jobs to qualified persons and attractive salary packages. In this article, you will get to know about how to become IPS officer, Job Profile, Life, Duties, perks and Responsibilities.
HOW TO BECOME AN IFoS OFFICER:
Firstly, one must complete graduation in science stream to become an IFS officer and then one must appear for IFS examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The recruitment process involves 3 stages, i.e., written exam prelims, written exam mains and an interview. One must clear all the rounds of the above mentioned recruitment process to become an IFS officer. The selected candidates will be trained for 2 years at Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy(IGNFA). Some of the key elements of the training are as following:
- Capacity building by imparting technical knowledge and skills needed in forestry sector.
- Enhancing your management skills.
- The personality development as a member of Indian Forest Service(IFS).
The candidates must have at least Animal Husbandry or Veterinary Science/ Botany/ Chemistry/ Geology/ Mathematics/ Physics/ Statistics/ Zoology as one of the subjects in Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university or institute to be eligible to appear for IFS exam.
After completion of their training, the officers are awarded a master’s degree in Science of Forest Research Institute. The officers are taught more than 56 subjects of life sciences in these two years of training.
After completing training at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, candidates go through a year of on-the-job field training in the state to which he or she is assigned, during which they are posted as Assistant Conservators of Forests or Deputy Conservator of Forests.
After 4 years of service in the junior scale, which includes a professional training phase and foundational courses, officers are appointed to the Senior Time Scale and are entitled to be posted as Deputy Conservators of Forests or Divisional Forest Officers (DFO) in charge of forest/districts divisions.
A common myth about Indian Forest Service is that it is for the jungles and an officer has to reside there in. NO!! Most Indian Forest Service(IFoS) officers do not reside in jungles, those serving in the districts get accommodation in district headquarters, same as IAS and IPS officers do. But if the district itself is a forest area like in Jharkhand or MP cadres, then all three (IAS, IPS and IFS) will have to live in that area itself only.
A career as an IFoS:
The initial position of the impact an IFoS officers takes is at the level of district administration is the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO). Generally, DFO assumes an important position.
He/She is among the top five officials of the district, i.e District Magistrate (DM), Superintendent of Police (SP),Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and District Judge (DJ). She/He acts as the ex-officio Secretary of various government committees and plans, with DM as Chairman. Of late it has been a practice in many states that if the position of DM falls vacant, DFO takes over the charge.
After the level of DFO, an IFoS moves up as Conservator of forests and works in various domains ranging from crafting working plans, implementation of various schemes, wildlife conservation, forestry research and development, training of forest cadres etc.
Next up the hierarchy, as Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), an IFoS officer gets more involved with policy formulation. Finally, a state’s forest department is headed by a Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) who is the senior-most IFoS officer in the state.
Types of Job Roles Indian Forest Service Officer:
The main job roles of an IFS Officer are described below:
- Conservator of Forest: Conservator officer is also called as the head of forest force. The key responsibility of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest is to manage the forests, environment and wildlife issues of a state of India. It is considered as the highest post/ Principal Chief position in Indian Forest Service in a state.
- Additional Chief Conservator of Forest: The additional conservator of forest plays a key role in assisting the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest. She/He is directly answerable to the Principal Chief and must carry out the responsibilities assigned by the chief.
- Deputy Conservator of Forest: A deputy conservator of the forest is also considered as Divisional Forest Officer. The major responsibility of these officials is to manage the forest, environment and wildlife related issues in Forest Division of a state.
- Assistant Conservator of Forest: The key responsibility of these officers is to assist the higher-level officials in the department and completing the tasks assigned by them. They also carry out certain responsibilities applicable to their post.
- Forest Range Officer (FRO): A forest range officer is responsible for the efficient management of the respective forest range, act as custodian of all government property associated with the respective forest range and follow the instructions or Divisional/Deputy Conservator of Forest.
Payscale:
|
Job
Profile |
Salary
Per Annum |
|
Principal
Chief Conservator of Forest |
Rs.
15,00,000 |
|
Additional
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest |
Rs.
14,00,000 |
|
Inspector
General of Forest (Chief Conservator of Forest) |
Rs.
13,00,000 |
|
Deputy
Inspector General of Forest (Deputy Conservator of Forest) |
Rs.
12,00,000 |
|
Assistant
Inspector General of Forest |
Rs.
10,00,000 |