Chapter 4 - Indian Forest Service (IFoS) | A Bouquet of Services by IPS Lohit Matani and IPS Vishal - UPSC PDF Download

Indian Forest Service (IFoS)

Contributor: Mr. Agneeshwar Vyas, IFoS 2014 Batch

4.1 Cadre Structure and Overview 

The Indian Forest Service (IFoS) is one of the three All India Services created in 1966 under the All India Services Act 1951. However, this was only a revival of a well organized Indian Forest Service which existed during the British Raj from 1865 to 1935. The main mandate of the service is implementation of the National Forest Policy. It aims to ensure environmental stability and maintenance of ecological balance which are vital for sustenance of all life forms, human, animal and plant.

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, under the Government of India, is the cadre controlling authority of Indian Forest Service. After recruitment, IFoS are placed under various state cadres and joint cadres, similar to IPS and IAS. The Service consists of 24 State Cadres including three Joint Cadres namely the Assam-Meghalaya, Manipur-Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT). IFoS officers are responsible for conservation, protection and development of forests and wildlife along with an aim to enhance livelihood opportunities of forest dependent communities of rural and tribal areas.

In today’s world, environment and climate change are most important issues and pose great challenges. The human race as a collective body needs to respond to these challenges or their very existence might be in danger. Thus, IFoS officers have an important task at hand.

4.2 Roles and Responsibilities

I.     Inspection and Supervision of Forests

IFoS officers of various ranks perform the work of supervision and inspection of forests i.e. marking of trees for felling and in Silvicultural works. Officers of the rank of ACF are often employed on special works such as collection of data for working plans, construction of the most important roads and buildings, etc.

II.   Keeping Account of Forest Produce

IFoS officers are responsible for account of timber, fuel, Minor Forest Produce, Tendu, and so on collected in departmental extraction and offence cases and recovery of revenue from grazing, sale of timber from offence cases, account of store, tool, plants and their use as per norms. They are also responsible for in situ conservation of medicinal plants.

III.  Protection and Maintenance of Forests

Officers mobilize the field staff to ensure proper protection of the forest against fires, encroachments, illicit felling and grazing- and then deal the offence cases according to related laws.

IV.  Maintain Good Relations with Forest People

IFoS officers have the responsibility that their subordinate staff maintain a good relation with the forest people and avoid any sort of friction with them. So far as rules permit, they try to set right on the spot any grievances or complaints, as far as practicable.

V. Prevention and Investigation of Forest Crime

IFoS officers are responsible for the prevention of forest related crimes by ensuring effective jungle patrolling by Beat Guards. If any crime takes place, officers investigate it according to relevant legal provisions and prosecute the accused in court of law.

VI.  Survey and Maintenance of Forest Land Records

Officers maintain complete land records in respect of forest department including register of maps, sets of revenue (village) maps, certified copy of record of rights by revenue department duly compared and corrected with the record of Forest Department.  They are also responsible for surveying the forests. Moreover, they deal with matters related to acquisition of private forests.

VII.   Forest Statistics and Working Plans

Officers keep up-to-date all the data and information regarding forest statistics. On the basis of this data, various experiments are conducted in the forest. They also study business trade in various forest produce like timber. Under the leadership of Chief Conservator of Forests, Working Plans, officers do survey of growing stock, enumeration of trees, stem and stumps analysis, collection of other statistical data and prepare working plans for regulating the exploitation, regeneration, protection and general working of the forests. The working plans for forest management are prepared by the officers with the help of modern tools like satellite imageries and Geographical Information System (GIS).

VIII. Protection of Ecologically Sensitive Zones

Officers lay special emphasis on certain sensitive zones like Mangrove Lands. A special cell has been created in some states to deal with matters pertaining to Mangrove Lands. Chief Conservator of Forests, Mangrove has the overall responsibility in this regard.

IX. Wildlife Conservation

Officers are responsible for the management of wildlife and conservation of their environment within the designated protected areas. They have the task of prevention, detection and investigation of poaching cases. Chief Conservator of Forests (Planning and Management- Wildlife) has the overall responsibility for the protection of wildlife within its protected areas.

X.   Silviculture Research and Implementation

IFoS officers under the guidance of Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Research, Education and Training) conduct research into silvicultural problems. Their duties include collection of data of growth and survival of plants by laying out sample plots and collection of local volume; evolving correct thinning regimes at different stands, undertaking experiments in connection with grazing control and pasture improvement, organizing seed supply and maintenance of seed orchard and research gardens.

XI.  Policy Advise and Project Formation

Higher officers of the rank of Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests are responsible for formulation of forestry projects including externally aided projects. They provide key policy advice for strategic planning and management of forests. They are also responsible for implementation, supervision and monitoring of all central and state schemes including budget of all the circles.

XII.   Afforestation Programs

Officers under Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (CAMPA) are responsible for promoting compensatory afforestation and the Green India Program for large scale afforestation of degraded forest land through Joint Forest Management (JFM). They promote environmental services such as wood, non-timber forest products, fuel etc. They support such other services necessary for the production of ecosystem services, biodiversity, nutrient cycling and primary production.

XIII. Integrated Watershed Development Program (IWDP)

Officers are responsible for the implementation of IWDP in forest areas, under which they restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover and water.  The outcomes are prevention of soil run-off, regeneration of natural vegetation, rain water harvesting and recharging of the ground water table. 

4.3 Normal Growth Profile

We will be discussing about the various career opportunities an IFoS Officer has in a separate topic. However, this topic only deals with various positions an IFoS Officer holds during his professional life. These positions are held when he/ she is working in his/ her main line departments.

4.4 Recruitment

Recruitment into Indian Forest Service happens through two channels:

1. Direct Recruit: 67% of the cadre strength of the service is filled by Direct Recruitment done through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) by conducting an all India level competitive examination open to graduates with science background.
2. Promotees: 33% of the cadre strength of the service, as per the regulations, is to be filled by appointing eligible officers of the State Forest Service to IFoS. Vacancies under promotion quota are determined by calculating 33% of the total Senior Duty Posts in the Cadre in addition to Central Deputation Reserve posts, State Deputation Reserve posts and Training Reserve.

4.5 Eligibility and Exam Pattern

Candidate should hold a Bachelor’s degree with at least one of the subjects namely, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and Zoology or a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture or Forestry or Engineering from a recognized university or equivalent. Candidates appearing at their degree examination (with prescribed subjects) can also compete.

The exam pattern of Indian Forest Service consists of preliminary, main examination and the personality test (interview). The preliminary exam of IFoS and the Civil Service Exam is same. The main exam of IFoS consists of:

Paper 1- General English 300 Marks

Paper 2-General Knowledge 300 Marks

Papers III, IV- Optional Subject 1

Paper V, VI- Optional Subject 2

Any two optional subjects can be selected from the list of the optional subjects (Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Forestry, Geology, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Statistics, Zoology.)

4.6 Training

The training of IFoS is divided into the following parts:

The Course program in the academy is conducted through a series of class room sessions, tours, excursions and specialized modules. Apart from it, study tours form an integral part of the training and are arranged so that the Probationers can learn and understand the practice of forestry in its variations in different states of India. This enables them to understand the scope of their duties and responsibilities as forest officers.  After completion of their training the officers are awarded a Master's degree in Science (Forestry) from Forest Research Institute (FRI).

In Service Training: Various In Service programs are conducted by IGNFA for upgrading the skills of the IFoS officers and State Forest Officers for being promoted to IFoS.

Mid Career Training: The MCT programs for IFoS officers have been started by IGNFA since Dec 2009. The program is being organized for three phases of the service viz. I, II and III which are meant for officers of seniority 7 to 9, 14 to 16 and 26 to 28 years, respectively.

MCT is an ambitious training program which aims to provide best training opportunities to the officers by roping in some of the best training institutions in the country and abroad. The officers attending the program get a chance to listen to best of the experts in their respective fields and also get exposure to best management practices of natural resources in the foreign countries. Involvement of institutions like IIMs, ICFRE, WII and FSI has helped bringing in innovative ways of thinking and developing modern management perspective of forestry sector among the participants. Under the MCTP, the officers also have a foreign study component in their module.

4.7 Variety of Opportunities for IFoS Officers

Apart from the usual work profile in the State Government, IFoS Officers have ample opportunities to serve in organizations of State, national as well international level.

4.8 Perks, Privileges and Advantages for an IFoS Officer

1. Indian Forest Service officers get to live and serve in areas where a common citizen can only dream to visit. The locations are pristine and remote.
2. The officers get a sense of pride in working for safeguarding the environment and ecology of the country. They proudly say, “they are the managers of a company which produces oxygen and water”.
3. They also feel a sense of pride in the fact that they do not work for one generation but for many generations. The impact of the efforts they put in will be visible in many generations to come.
4. Officers of IFoS get an opportunity to lead a very healthy life as they live near to the nature and breathe a clean air.
5. They also get opportunity to fulfill their hobbies related to nature and wildlife, like wildlife photography and jungle trekking.
6. They develop professional competence in fields of environment conservation, wildlife, flora and fauna.
7. As seen above, they have ample deputation opportunities in various organizations.
8. They get an opportunity to contribute in the development of tribal areas. The various tribal and forest dwellers welfare schemes are implemented by their help. They play a major role in making these programs a success.
9. They play a key role in the protection of ecologically sensitive areas and protected areas.

4.9 Occupational Hazards

Indian Forest Service has certain disadvantages as mentioned below:

1. In the initial years of service, postings are mostly in remote locations. In some states, these locations are highly remote having no internet and road connectivity. For some officers, this becomes a demotivating aspect of the job.
2. Due to the above reason, officers face family issues and issues of children education.
3. IFoS officers suffer from work pressure whenever a law and order situation is created by the tribal bodies of the forests.
4. They also face repeated assault threats on their life. The nature of their task requires dealing with hardened forest criminals.
5. They also face a certain amount of political interference in matters like using forest land for developmental purposes.
6. They remain under constant watch of environment related NGOs. Sometimes they consciously disturb the working of institutions manned by officers through motivated RTI requests, applications, and so on.

4.10 Case Studies

4.10.1 Conservation of Amur Falcon- Efforts of an IFoS Officer

In October, huge numbers of Amur falcons arrive in northeast India from Siberia en route to their final destination — Somalia, Kenya and South Africa. This handsome little raptor has one of the longest migration routes of all birds, doing up to 22,000 km in a year.  However, a disturbing fact is that during the peak migration of this bird in Nagaland, 12,000 – 14,000 of them were hunted for consumption and commercial sale every day. Moreover, a mind-boggling 120,000 to 140,000 birds are slaughtered in Nagaland every year during their passage through the state.

Amur Falcons spend their day on the transmission wires (almost entirely inaccessible to hunters) and descend to forest patches along the banks of the reservoir to roost. The hunters ruthlessly exploit this particular behavior and set-up huge fishing nets (30-40m long, 10-12m tall) all over the roosting sites. Birds were caught in those nets in large numbers while they came to roost during late evenings or when they left the roost early morning.

An IFoS officer through his pain staking efforts, was able to contain the killing of Amur Falcons in one of the remotest district of Nagaland- Kifre. The work done by him is inspirational and motivating. He made efforts to visits at least 2 villages daily and talked to the people over there. The tribal people of the village wanted to hunt and eat the meat of Amur Falcon. He made persistent efforts to bring a mindset change in the tribal population.

In these efforts, he would apprise them of their exploitation by the city markets like Dimapur. Since tribals did not eat all the Amur Falcons they hunt, a majority of them were sent to the major cities. Secondly, he focused on bringing awareness among children of the tribals. For this, he conducted various cultural programs for children to emphasize the need for everyone to conserve nature as one’s duty. Thirdly, he showed tribal youths & elders other ways of making a living without disrupting nature. Along with this, he conducted various community level programs to highlight the importance of Amur Falcon and the international concern to conserve it. His work brought a change in the tribals of Kifre.

However, the hunting of Amur Falcon still continues but in a much lesser amount as it is a major source of income for the villagers. The market of Nagaland supports the killing of this bird.

Q. What were the challenges and ethical dilemmas which the IFoS officer must have faced in his conservation efforts of Amur Falcon? What pressures an officer faces from the side of market, civil society and politicians while doing his job in an upright manner? Explain in the light of the above case. What would have you done in the place of this officer?

4.10.2 Controlling Illegal Fishing in Totladoh Dam, Pench Forest Reserve

The entire Pench river stretch in the Totladoh Dam area has been declared as a protected area by the Government because it falls under the core area of the Pench Forest Reserve. The State Government of Maharashtra has also taken persistent efforts to rehabilitate and resettle the villagers living in the core area. All of them have been given a different land for their sustenance outside the core area. The resettlement process has succeeded in a big manner.

However, the problem of illegal fishing in Totladoh Dam area still persists. Many meetings were taken with the villagers to persuade them to do fishing in another stretch of the river outside the core area. But they did not accept the proposal of the Government and were adamant in their demands. The problem is entangling because the fishes hunted by the villagers are supplied to the markets of Nagpur and nearby cities of Madhya Pradesh.

Local villagers hunt the fishes in a group of hundred people. They then transport it using cycles to a nearby village in the forest. From this village, another group of people take these fishes on cycles to the highway. On the highway, few vehicles take these fishes to the main markets of the nearby cities. These fishes have extraordinary taste and quality, so much so that they are served at a prohibitive price in the 4 star and 5 star hotels of Nagpur city.

Mr. Raja Nayak is the DFO of this area. He has made persistent efforts to target and arrest the villagers involved in illegal fishing. However, villagers are always armed with deadly weapons and they are in higher numbers also. They try to target and kill the local forest officers trying to apprehend them. They have even tried to burn the forest using petrol shells. A forest fire is the biggest threat to the work of an IFoS officer as it demeans the persistent efforts he/ she has given to the conservation of forest. Mr. Raja Nayak also understands that the lowest level forest staff, a ‘Van Mazdoor’, allows this illegal fishing to happen. He allows this not because of any greed, but because of a threat to his own life. He lives in a remote location where he can be anytime targeted by the local villagers and no authority may come to his rescue.

Mr. Raja has also coordinated with the local Nagpur Police to arrest this phenomenon of illegal fishing and apprehend the delinquent villagers. The operations conducted by the police lead to arrest of many villagers and breaking the chain of this illegal fish trade. However, this monstrous problem still continues.

Q. What are the challenges and dilemma Mr. Raja faced in fighting the problem of illegal fishing? What all strategies he must have applied to fight this problem?

Q. According to your understanding, what was the main reason of illegal fishing in this area and why was it difficult to be solved? What efforts will you take to motivate the ‘Van Mazdoor’ to work in the interest of the Forest Department?

Hint: Try to break the network of supply to the market rather than arresting the villagers. Apprehend few people and understand where the fishes are being supplied. Cancel the license of the hotels and the shopkeepers who are selling these illegal fishes in the cities. Ensure the safety of the Van Mazdoor by suitably arming him. Transfer him to another beat if he is under threat of life. Post young and energetic Van Mazdoors. Try to understand the problem of villagers and solve them using the efforts of other district level agencies like District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police.

4.10.3 Illegal Construction in Forests

Sometimes on the demands of the local villagers, the local MLA tried to do some developmental work in the forest. However, doing this work requires a series of permissions. In one such case, a local MLA in Dang, Gujarat decided to build a road passing through the Vansda National Park over there. He had the support of the local villagers in constructing this road as it would increase the connectivity of the villages in the forest.

However, building such a road was not ecologically sound as it was passing through the core area of the forest. Before building a road, rights of many villagers are to be settled. Permissions are to be taken by the local Gram Panchayat, Forest Department, State Government and the Central Government. Moreover, Environment Impact Assessment of the project has to be done before starting it. However, the MLA did not wanted to pass through the above procedural hurdles as he already had the apparent support of local villagers.

Mr. Subhash Ghai was posted as the ACF of that area. He was not happy with this state of affairs. He was against building this road in the forest as it will disrupt the ecology of the forest. Moreover, he did not have the power to grant the construction of this road. And it was his duty to stop the construction of the road. The local MLA advised him to go on a month leave and let the road constructed in his absence. He advised him to file a complaint after coming back against the construction of this road. Such a complaint would undergo various levels of inquiry and finally the authorities would say that because the road has already been constructed, let it remain over there.

However, Subash was not happy. He protested against the construction of this road. He took some staff with him to stop the work of construction. However, he faced a law and order situation where many villagers confronted him to go back and let the road be built. He was also manhandled by the supporters of the MLA.

Many of the forest service associations supported the bravery shown by Subash, but the construction of the road was not stopped.

Q. What were the dilemmas faced by Subash in this situation? Analyze the options he had in front of him and weigh the pros and cons of all these options.

Q. Consider yourself as the DFO of Dang district (immediate senior of Subash). What guidance will you give to Subash? How will you motivate him to do his work with honesty, courage and integrity?