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Indian Forest Service (IFS), offers a highly challenging and
rewarding career. It offers an exciting opening
where an IFS officer not only acts as custodian of forests under
his area of responsibility but also derives
mundane pleasure of being instrumental in protecting and
preserving the environment and wild life.
This exotic satisfaction of protecting forests, environment and
wild life also adds a lot of adventure to
the job.
Recruitment to this service is done by the Union Public Service
Commission (UPSC) through a
competitive examination every year. The candidates selected for
the service are allotted a State/Union
Territory cadre and they serve in that particular State/Union
Territory thereafter till superannuation,
except for a few deputations to the Central Government in
between. The service has inherent time-
bound promotions and higher scales which are comparable to the
best in government sector in the
country. After completion of training, the IFS officers are
usually posted as Divisional Forest Officers
(DFOs)/Deputy Conservators of Forests (DCF) with the independent
charge of a forest division with a
large number of Forest Guards, Block Officers, Range Officers
and Assistant Conservators of Forests
working under them. After putting in a specified years of
service as a DFO/DCF, the IFS Officers are
promoted as Conservators of Forests with several DFOs/DCFs under
their control. A direct recruit IFS
Officer can hope to rise upto Chief Conservator of Forests or
even upto the post of Principal Chief
Conservator of Forests, the Head of Forest Department in a
State.
Some of the State Governments have State Forest Development
Corporations also and the IFS Officers
can also be posted as Divisional Managers, General Managers,
Executive Directors and Managing
Directors in these Corporations. Thus IFS officers also get an
exposure to the corporate functioning in
the government sector, adding another dimension to their job. In
addition, the IFS officers also enjoy
certain powers of police officers in respect of several offences
under the Indian Forest Act.
The Selection Process
The competitive examination for the IFS is usually held by the
UPSC in the month of July every year. The
advertisement for the examination normally appears in the month
of December/Janaury in all leading
newspapers as well as in the "Employment News". It carries
details about the examination, subjects, etc.
Eligibility: The candidates applying for the IFS examination
must fulfil the following conditions:
(a) They must have attained the age of 21 years but should be
less than 26 years of age.
(b) They must be graduates with atleast one of the following
subjects: Physics, Chemistry, Botany,
Zoology, Mathematics, Statistics and Geology; from a recognized
university, or must have Bachelors
Degree in Agriculture or Engineering or Forestry from a
recognized university.
Examination: The scheme of examination has two stages:
(a) Written examination.
(b) Personal Interview.
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All the eligible candidates are first tested through a written
examination which consists of two
compulsory and two optional subjects. The compulsory subjects
are General Knowledge and General
English. Every candidate has to offer two optional subjects out
of (1) Physics (2) Chemistry (3) Botany (4)
Zoology (5) Forestry (6) Statistics (7) Mathematics (8) Geology
(9) Agriculture (10) Civil Engineering (11)
Agriculture Engineering (12) Mechanical Engineering (13)
Chemical Engineering.
The compulsory papers are designed to test the candidates
command over the language,
comprehension, analytical power and overall general awareness.
The General English paper carries the
questions on use of words of common parlance, passages, precis,
comprehension, idioms etc. In
addition the candidates are also required to write an essay out
of a few given topics. The standard of
this paper is such as is expected of an average
science/engineering/forestry/agriculture graduate of an
Indian University.
The second compulsory paper on General Knowledge is aimed at
testing the general awareness and
knowledge of the candidates in subjects other than those studied
by them in their academic curriculum.
This paper also tests the knowledge of candidates on current
events of national and international
importance. There are a few questions on Indian Political
System, Indian History, Economy, Geography
and applied aspects of Science and Technology. The standard of
this paper is again such as is expected of
an average science/engineering/forestry/agriculture graduate.
The questions in this paper are multiple
choice objective-type in nature.
So far as the choice of optional subjects is concerned, list of
subjects offers a vast choice. Every eligible
candidate is usually expected to specialise in atleast one of
the optional subjects which he/she would
have offered during his/her academic degree. The choice of
second subject is also not difficult. It is
recommended that the candidates appearing for the first time in
the examination should go through
previous question papers before finally deciding on the optional
subjects. The standard of optional
subjects is that of degree level academic examination. Further
details regarding syllabi of all optional
subjects are available in the instructions received alongwith
the application form supplied by the UPSC.
Interview: The written examination is followed by a personality
test in the form of personal interview.
The interviews are held by the UPSC soon after the result of
written test is declared. The marks obtained
in the interview are added to the marks obtained by a candidate
in the written test to draw up the final
merit list. The main aim of personality test is to judge the
suitability of candidates as officers of Indian
Forest Service. The candidates appearing in the interview may
expect some questions on common day-
to-day observations and current affairs of importance. Questions
on Indian Polity, Planning Process,
Budgeting and Economic Geography may also be expected. The
personality test also aims at testing
leadership qualities, mental alertness, initiative, balance of
judgement, analytical capabilities and variety
of interests.
Preparation and Coaching
The IFS being among the most prestigious services of the
country, the competition for examination is
quite tough and needs meticulous preparation. So far as optional
subjects are concerned, most of the
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students are expected to do well. It is the performance of
candidates in compulsory subjects which
makes the real difference. Any candidate who does well in
optional subjects and also excels in the
compulsories can expect to qualify the examination. It,
therefore, requires systematic planned study
with added emphasis on both the compulsory subjects which are
usually neglected during the academic
examinations.
To have a sound base in the General Knowledge paper the
candidates must refer to a basic and standard
general knowledge book like "General Knowledge Refresher" by
O.P. Khanna, regularly supported by
"The Competition Master". This would keep the candidates posted
upto date as far as general
knowledge and current affairs are concerned and would give them
an edge over others in this paper.
Similarly, the personal interview also requires an exhaustive
preparation. Passing of written examination
must not lead a candidate to a state of complacency. Personality
test being the final test of suitability of
the candidates for the service, thus assumed greater importance.
Indepth study of all important aspects
of general interest as well as brushing-up of optional subjects
offered in the written examination is
required. Thorough self-appraisal is also an effective way of
preparing for the interview.
There are certain private institutions/agencies imparting
coaching and guidance for IFS examination as
well as personal interview. By taking due precautions for not
falling into unscrupulous hands, coaching
from a reputed institution will go a long way to help the fresh
candidates to do well in this examination.
