Indian Forest Service Examination 2022

Candidates applying for Indian Forest service examination should note that they are required to appear in the civil services preliminary examination and qualify the same for going to the second stage of Indian Forest service Main examination and interview.

It is a common online application subject to meeting the requisite criteria. Indian foreign service is IFS and Indian Forest service is IFoS. Among the civil services - Indian Administrative service and Indian Police service.IAS and IPS are cadre posts. Similarly Indian Forest service also has a cadre post. Meaning by- the selected candidates will be allotted to a particular state according to their rank and they have to serve their entire career in the particular state besides Central deputation etc.The Government of India has laid more emphasis on the Environment and Ecology. Hence the Ministry of Environment and climate change is the Main department to accommodate the Indian Forest service officers. In 2022, UPSC has announced about 151 vacancies for IFoS. The candidates will be competing along with the Civil services candidates. The age limit is 26 to 32 years as in the case of Civil services.

Minimum educational qualifications

Candidates must hold a Bachelor's degree with at least one of the subjects namely Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and Zoology or a Bachelor's degree in Agriculture, Forestry or Engineering.

Procedure to apply

Candidates must be physically fit according to the physical standards of the IFoS. Civil Service Preliminary Examination will act as a screening test for selection of candidates for the Indian Forest Service Main Examination. Candidates can apply for Civil Services Examinations also (subject to their satisfying the prescribed eligibility condition). They have to apply by appropriately indicating in the online application form that they intend to appear for both the IFoS and Civil Services Examination. Candidates who will qualify for the IFoS main examination will have to fill in a detailed application form subsequently. The last date for filling the prelims examination application online is already over by 22-2-2022.

Plan of examination

♠ Civil Services Preliminary Examination is objective type for the screening and selection of candidates for IFoS Main Examination.

♠  IFoS Main examination (written and interview) is for the selection of candidates against the 151 vacancies identified and reported for the examination.

The Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of objective type Multiple Choice Questions and carry a maximum of 400 marks in the subjects set out. This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only. The marks obtained in the preliminary examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit.

The number of candidates to be admitted to the Main Examination will be about 12 to 13 times the total approximate number of vacancies of that particular year. For example, if there are 100 vacancies, 1300 candidates will be shortlisted. Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in that year will be eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that year

Main examination

Main examination will consist of a written examination and an interview test. The written examination will consist of six papers of conventional essay type in the subjects prescribed. Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the written part of the main examination (as may be fixed by the Commission) shall be summoned for an interview (personality test). The interview will carry 300 marks with no minimum qualifying marks. Marks obtained by the candidates in the Main Examination (written part as well as interview) would determine their final ranking.

The written examination consists of the following papers:

♠ Paper I General English

♠ Paper II. General knowledge

♠ Paper III, IV and V, VI - any two subjects to be selected from the list of the optional subjects. Each subject will have two papers of 200 marks each. Answer scripts of only those candidates who have obtained the minimum marks as decided by the commission in General Knowledge paper will be evaluated.

Optional subjects list

Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Botany, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Forestry, Geology, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Statistics and Zoology. There is a bar in selecting the combination of optional subjects. The question papers must be answered in English. Question papers will be set in English only. The duration of each of these papers will be for three hours .The commission has discretion to fix

qualifying marks in any or all the papers of the examination . Credit will be given for orderly, effective and exact expression combined with economy of words.

Candidates will be allowed the use of scientific non programmable type calculators. Programmable type calculators will however not be allowed and the use of such calculators shall tantamount to resorting to unfair means by the candidates.

The scope of the syllabus for Optional subject papers for the examination is broadly of the Honours degree level that is a level higher than the Bachelor's degree and lower than the Master's degree. In the case of engineering subjects, the level corresponds to the Bachelor's degree. Candidates will be required to write an essay in English. Other questions will be designed to test their understanding of English and workman-like use of words. Passages will usually be set for summary or precise.

General knowledge

General knowledge including knowledge of current events and of such matters of everyday observation and experience in their scientific aspects as may be expected of an educated person who has not made a special study of any scientific subject. The paper will also include questions on Indian Polity including the political system and the Constitution of India, History of India and Geography of a nature which the candidate should be able to answer without special study.

Optional subjects

Total number of questions in the question papers of optional subjects will be eight. All questions will carry equal marks. Each paper will be divided into two parts – Part A and Part B, each part containing four questions.

Out of eight questions, five questions are to be attempted. One question in each part will be compulsory. Candidates will be required to answer three more questions out of the remaining six questions, taking at least one question from each part.

In this way, at least two questions will be attempted from each part that is one compulsory question plus one more.

Criteria

Since there may be common candidates for Civil Services Examination and the Indian Forest Service Examination, after the screening test done through Civil Services Preliminary Examination. A separate list will be prepared for the candidates eligible to appear in the Civil Service Main examination and Indian Forest service Main examination. It is based on the criteria of minimum qualifying marks of 33 per cent in General Studies Paper II of Civil Services Preliminary Examination and total qualifying marks of general studies paper I. It is determined by the commission on the number of vacancies to be filled through the civil service examination and IFoS. There will be negative marking for incorrect answers in the

Prelims Examination. The number of candidates to be summoned for an interview will be about twice the number of vacancies to be filled.

Indian Forest service training:

On acceptance to the forest service, new entrants undergo a probationary period. They are referred to as officer trainees. Training begins at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie where members of many civil services are trained for a period of 15 weeks.

The Director General of Forests is the head of the Forest Services. The cadre controlling authority is the Ministry of Environment Forest and climate change. The intensive training is given to the candidates at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy at Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The professional forestry training for the probationers is through a series of classroom sessions, tours, excursions and specialized modules. On completion of the training, the candidates are allotted to the particular state and will serve as forest officers.

(Author is Retired Additional Director-General Doordarshan, Delhi)