Nationality:
A candidate must be either:
(a) A citizen of India, or
(b) a subject of Nepal, or
(c) a subject of Bhutan, or
(d) a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India. or
(e) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Srilanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.
Povided that a candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has ben issued by the Government of India.
Age Limits:
A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 30 years.
The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable in the follwing cases:
● Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe: upto a maximum of five years.
● Other Backward Classes: upto a maximum of three years.
● State of Jammu & Kashmir (Domiciled during the period from the 1st January, 1980 to 31stupto a maximum of five years. December, 1989:
● Defence Services personnel (disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof):upto a maximum of five years.
● Ex-servicemen including Commissioned officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on and have been released (i) on completion of assignment otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or (ii) on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service, or (iii) on invalidment: upto a maximum of five years.
● ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years of Military Service and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three month's notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment : upto a maximum of five years.
● Blind, deaf-mute and Orthopaedically handicapped persons: upto a maximum of ten years.
NOTE I:
Cumulative Age relaxation:
Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes who are also covered under other clauses mentioned above will be eligible for grant of cumulative age-relaxation under both the categories.
Ex-servicemen eligibility:
The term ex-servicemen will apply to the persons who are defined as ex-servicemen in the Ex-servicemen (Re-employment in Civil Services and Posts) Rules, 1979, as amended from time to time.
The age concession will not be admissible to Ex-Servicemen and Commissioned Officers including ECOs/SSCOs, who are released on own request.
NOTE II:
Date of Birth Certificate:
The date of birth accepted by the Commission is that entered in the Matriculation or Secondary School Leaving Certificate or in a certificate recognised by an Indian University as equivalent to Matriculation or in an extract from a Register of Matriculates maintained by a University, which extract must be certified by the proper authority of the University or in the Higher Secondary or an equivalent examination certificate.
No other document relating to age like horoscopes, affidavits, birth extracts from Municipal Corporation, service records and the like will be accepted.
Once the date of birth is recorded in the Commission, no change will be allowed subsequently (or at any other Examination of the Commission) on any grounds whatsoever.
Educational Qualifications:
The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s degree with at least one of the following subjects:
Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and Zoology, Agriculture, Forestry, Agriculture Engineering, Forestry Engineering.
The Degree should be granted from of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University Under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.
.
Number of attempts:
The maximum number of attempts restriction is effective from the examination held in 1984. In case other eligibility conditions apply:
● General candidates: four attempts.
● Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates: No restriction.
● Other Backward Classes: seven attempts.
Appearing in one or more papers of examination will be counted as an attempt at the examination even in the case when candidature was later disqualified or canceled.
IFoS: Examination Pattern
The competitive examination comprises two successive stages :
(i) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective Type) for the screening & selection of candidates for Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination; and
(ii) Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates against the vacancies identified and reported for the Indian Forest Service Examination.
Preliminary Examination:
The Examination shall comprise of two compulsory Papers of 200 marks each.
Important Points
(i) Both the question papers will be of the objective type (multiple choice questions).
(ii) The question papers will be set both in Hindi and English. However, questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level will be tested through passages from English language only without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.
(iii) Details of the syllabi are indicated in Part A of Section III.
(iv) Each paper will be of two hours duration. Blind candidates will; however, be allowed an extra time of twenty minutes for each paper.
Mains Examination
The written examination consisting of the following papers:
Paper 1- General English 300 Marks
Paper 2-General Knowledge 300 Marks
Papers III, IV, V and VI.
Any two subjects to be selected from the list of the optional subjects set out in para 2 below. Each subject will have two papers: 200 marks for each paper.
(C) Interview for Personality Test (See (C) of Section II of this Appendix) of such candidates as may be called by the Commission-Maximum Marks : 300
List of optional subjects
(i) Agriculture
(ii.) Agricultural Engineering
(iii) Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
(iv) Botany
(v) Chemistry
(vi) Chemical Engineering
(vii) Civil Engineering
(viii) Forestry
(ix) Geology
(x) Mathematics
(xi) Mechanical Engineering
(xii) Physics
(xiii) Statistics
(xiv) Zoology
The following combination of subjects are not allowed:
(a) Agriculture and Agricultural Engg.
(b) Agriculture and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science.
(c) Agriculture and ·Forestry.
(d) Chemistry and Chemical Engg.
(e) Mathematics and Statistics.
(f) Of the Engineering subjects viz. Agricultural Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering- not more than one
IFoS: Examination Centers
Examination Centers for Indian Forest Service Examination
| AGARTALA | CHANDIGARH | IMPHAL | LUCKNOW | RANCHI |
| AHMEDABAD | CHENNAI | ITANAGAR | MADURAI | SAMBALPUR |
| AIZAWL | CUTTACK | JAIPUR | MUMBAI | SHILLONG |
| ALIGARH | DEHRADUN | JAMMU | NAGPUR | SHIMLA |
| ALLAHABAD | DELHI | JODHPUR | PANAJI (GOA) | SRINAGAR |
| AURANGABAD | DHARWAD | JORHAT | PATNA | THIRUVANANTHAPURAM |
| BANGALORE | DISPUR | KOCHI | PUDUCHERRY | TIRUPATI |
| BAREILLY | GANGTOK | KOHIMA | PORT BLAIR | UDAIPUR |
| BHOPAL | HYDERABAD | KOLKATA | RAIPUR | VISHAKHAPATNAM |
- The centres mentioned above are able to be changed at the discretion of the commission. In such case the commission will inform the admitted candidates.
- No request for change of centre are normally granted.
- A request in change if center should be addressed to the Secretary, Union Public Service Commission giving full justification as to why he/she desires a change in centre.
