Civil services examination / UPSC Exams

 

 

Indian Forest Service (IFS-Forest)

 

The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the Civil Services Examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the recruitment officers at the All India level by the Government of India for the scientific management of its forests. 

Qualification Needed : Graduate in Qualifying Subject etc.

Age Limit : 21 - 30 years

No of Attempts Allowed : 6 - 9 Attempts

 

Importance

IFS is one of the three All India Services. The exam is conducted for recruitment to forestry services of India. The other two All India Services being Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS). 

Indian Forest Service is one of the Civil Services of India and belongs to the apex All India Services group. IFS services are placed under various State cadres and joint cadres though they have the mandate to serve both under the State and Central Governments.

The main mandate of IFS service is the implementation of the National Forest Policy which aims to ensure environmental stability and maintenance of ecological balance.

An IFS officer is largely independent of district administration and exercises administrative, judicial and financial powers in their own domain. All top positions in the state forest department are held by IFS officers.

Indian Forest Service (IFS) 2021

In order to become an Indian Forest Service officer, candidates need to appear for the examination conducted by UPSC. The IFS selection procedure consists of three stages – preliminary, main examination and personality test. 

Aspirants have to note that they need to appear for the Civil Services (Preliminary) examination and qualify the same for the second phase of the examination, i.e., IFS (Main Examination). Candidates who qualify in the Civil Services (Preliminary) and meet the eligibility criteria of IFS will be shortlisted for the IFS Main Examination. 

The desiring candidates can apply for the Indian Forest Service examination through a common online application form of Civil Services Examination (CSE). The applicant has to submit the application form through online mode only. The important details regarding IFS 2019 are given below. 

IFS Number of Vacancies 2021

The total number of vacancies announced in the official notification is approximately 110. However, candidates belonging to SC, ST, OBC, Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and PWD categories will be provided with the reservation according to the Government. According to the official notification released by the UPSC, a few vacancies are reserved. Check the details below.

 

 

Eligibility Criteria

1.    Physical Criteria

Aspirants must be physically fit according to the physical standards for admission to Indian Forest Service Examination. Candidates are advised to visit the IFS official notification to check the detailed rules and regulations. 

2.    Nationality:

A candidate must be

• A citizen of India, or
• The subject of Nepal, or
• The subject of Bhutan, or
• Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India, or
• A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries like Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia, and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India
• Candidate belonging to categories b, c, d, and e should produce a certificate of eligibility, which has been issued by the Government of India.

Centres in India

• The Examination will be held at the most of states Centres in India like Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat etc.
• Applicants should note that there will be a ceiling on the number of candidates allotted to each of the Centres, except Chennai, Dispur,
  Kolkata and Nagpur
• Allotment of Centres will be on the "first-apply-first allot" basis, and once the capacity of a particular Centre is attained, the same will be frozen
• The Main Examination will be held on the following Centres like Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Dispur (Guwahati), Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Nagpur, Port Blair and Shimla

2.    Educational Qualification:

§  Candidate should hold a Bachelor’s degree with at least one of the subjects namely, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and Zoology or a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture or Forestry or Engineering of a recognised university or equivalent.

§  Candidates appearing for their degree examination (with prescribed subjects) can also apply. If they qualify on the result of the written part of the examination, they have to submit the proof of passing the required examination along with their detailed application form to be filled in at that stage.

§  Age Limit :

Age of a candidate should be minimum 21 years and maximum of 32 years on 1st August, 2021 of the year of examination, i.e. he must have been born not earlier than 2nd August, 1989 and not later than 1st August, 2000. While the upper age limit will be relaxable in the following cases:

1.    For Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (SC /ST): Up to 5 years

2.    Other Backward Classes (OBC): Up to 3 years

3.    State of Jammu & Kashmir (Domiciled during the period from the 1st January 1980 to 31st December 1989: Up to 5 years.

4.    Defence Services personnel: Up to 5 years

5.    Ex-servicemen including Commissioned officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least 5 years Military Service as on and have been released: Up to 5 years

6.    ECOs/ SSCOs: Up to a maximum of five years.

(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)

§  Blind, deaf-mute and Orthopaedically handicapped persons: Up to 10 years.

Cumulative Age relaxation:

§  SC, ST and the OBC who are also covered under other clauses mentioned above will be eligible to grant cumulative age-relaxation under both the categories

§  Number of attempts:

The maximum number of attempts restricted for candidates are as follows: 

§  General Candidates: 6 attempts

§  Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Candidates: No restriction

§  Other Backward Classes: 9 attempts

§  Physically handicapped- 9 attempts for general and OBC, while unlimited for SC/ST

Appearing for one or more papers of an examination will be counted as an attempt at the examination even if the candidate failed to qualify for the selection.

 

 

IFS Examination Pattern

The pattern of IFS examination has been designed to test the academic expertise of a candidate and that candidate's ability to present himself/herself in a systematic and coherent manner. The examination pattern intends to assess the overall intellectual traits and understanding level of the candidates.

The UPSC IFS Exam 2020 is conducted in two stages namely, Prelims and Main, which are then followed by an interview.  

Scheme and subjects for the Preliminary and Main Examinations 2021 are as follows:

1. IFS Preliminary Examination (400 Marks):

The Prelims consists of two papers of 200 marks each.

Both the question papers are of the objective type (MCQ) of two hours each

The question papers will be set in both Hindi and English. However, questions related to English Language Comprehension skills would be provided only in English.

Blind candidates would be allowed an extra 20 minutes of time for each paper.

The General Studies Paper-II of the Preliminary exam will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

2. IFS Main Examination (1700 Marks):

• Candidates who qualify Preliminary exam are called for the Main exam and on the basis of marks secured in the Main exam, they will be called for Interview
• The total marks of the Main exam and Interview sum up to produce the final result

A. The written examination consists of the following papers:

Paper	Subject	Total Marks
Paper-I	General English	300 Marks
Paper-II	General Knowledge	300 Marks
Paper-III	Any two subject to be selected from the list of the optional subjects	200 Marks (For Each Paper)
Paper-IV
Paper-V
Paper-VI

B. Interview Personality Test - 300 Marks

List of Optional Subjects for IFS Main Exam:

• Agriculture
• Agricultural Engineering
• Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
• Botany
• Chemistry
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Forestry
• Geology
• Mathematics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Physics
• Statistics
• Zoology

The candidates will not be allowed to offer the following combination of subjects:

• Agriculture and Agricultural Engineering
• Agriculture and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
• Agriculture and Forestry
• Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
• Mathematics and Statistics
• Engineering subjects viz. Agricultural Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering not more than one subject