Indian Forest Service

History

India has extensive forests which are an important resource. India  thus requires scientific management of its forests. The British India Government recognized the need of a premier forest management service and constituted the Imperial Forest Service in 1867. The Imperial Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, presently & popularly known all over the world as FRI was established at Dehradun in 1906. Since then, the training program shifted to Dehradun.

The subject of "Forestry" which was initially managed by the Federal Government was transferred to the "Provincial List" by the Government of India Act, 1935 and subsequently recruitment to the Imperial Forest Service was discontinued. The Indian Forest Service, one of the three All India Services, was constituted in the year 1966 under the All India Services Act, 1951 by the Government of India.

The main mandate of the service is the implementation of the National Forest Policy which envisages scientific management of forests and to exploit them on a sustained basis for primary timber products, among other things.

Organization

The initial constitution of the Indian Forest Service consisted of the four following categories of the officers

• Initial Recruits (IR);
• Emergency Commissioned/Short Service Commissioned (EC/SSC)
• Direct Recruits also known as Regular Recruits (DR/RRs); and
• Promotees (appointed from State Forest Service.

Direct Recruits constitute 66.33 per cent 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. After qualifying the written examination, the candidates have to appear for a personality test, a walking test and a standard medical fitness test.

For detailed instructions about Application Procedure and Examination click on links in the menu on the left.

Composition of the Service

The total authorized cadre strength of the Indian Forest Service as on date is 2751 which includes 1917 Direct Recruit and 834 Promotion posts. The total Senior Duty Posts (SDP) in the Indian Forest Service are 1674 and the remaining under various reserves. The table below shows the administrative hierarchy in descending order.

Pay Structure

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests	Rs. 24050-26000
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests	Rs. 22400-24500
Chief Conservator of Forests	Rs. 18400-22400
Conservator of Forests	Rs. 16400-20000
Deputy Conservator of Forests (Selection Grade)	Rs. 14300-18300
(Junior Administrative Grade)	Rs. 12000-16500
(Senior Time Scale)	Rs. 10000-15200
(Junior Time Scale)	Rs. 8000-12000

Eligibility for Indian Forest Services

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 1^st January, 1980 to 31^stupto 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.

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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.

IFS: Subject Syllabus

List of Optional Subjects (click on the subjects to view the syllabus)Agriculuture

Agriculutural Engineering

Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science

Botany

Chemistry

Chemical Engineering

Civil Engineering

Forestry

Geology

Mathematics

Mechnical engineering

Physics

statistics

Zoology

GENERAL ENGLISH and GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

The standard level of papers in General English and General Knowledge are designed for a Science or Engineering graduate of an Indian University. The English paper would consist of an essay and passages to write summary. Other questions are designed to test general understanding of English and everyday use of words. .

OPTIONAL SUBJECTS

The standard level and syllabus for optional subject papers is based on the Bachelors Degree (with Honours). There will be no practical examination in any of the subjects.

There will be eight (8) questions in each subject paper carrying equal marks. All questions will carry equal marks. Each paper will be divided into two parts,  Part A and Part B, each 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. Thus, at least two questions will be attempted from each Part plus one more.

PERSONALY TEST

The candidates will be interviewed by a Board of competent and unbiased observers. The record of  candidate's career will be present before the interviewers.

The object of the interview is to assess the suitability of the candidate for the Service. The candidate will be expected to have an all round personality. He/She should have an intelligent interest not only in his academics but also should be aware of his cultural, political and social surroundings. He/She should be aware of current affairs, modern current of thoughts and new discoveries happening around him both within and outside his own State or country. 

The technique of the interview will not be a strict cross examination like a question and answer session. It would be more like a natural, though directed and purposive conversation, intended to reveal personal qualities of the candidate. The Board will pay special attention to assessing the intellectual curiosity, critical powers of observation and assimilation, balance of judgment and alertness of mind, initiative, tact, capacity for leadership; the ability for social cohesion, mental and physical energy and powers of practical application; integrity of character; and other qualities such as topographical sense, love for out-door life and the desire to explore unknown and out of way places.