Indian Forest Service for students online

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 superannuating, 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  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.

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 at least 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.

Break- up  of the papers  

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 at least one of the optional subjects which he/she would have offered during his/her academic degree. . Further details regarding syllabi of all optional subjects are available in the instructions received along with 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.