IFoS : Complete And Genuine Information Of The Service
IFoS stands for The Indian Forest Services. IFoS is one of the three arms of the Indian Services along with the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Services.
The recruitment is done Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) at the All India Level for the management of its forest. Under the British Raj is was established as Imperial Forest Service in 1864. Later is was constituted as IFoS in 1966.
IFoS Exam
Every year, UPSC conducts the Civil Service Examination(CSE) for more than 24 services, such as IAS, IPS, and IFS, by shortlisting the candidates. More than nine lakh candidates registered for the exam and almost five lakh candidates appear for the examination.
The selection process goes through several screening steps starting with preliminary exam, main examination, and interview. Selection is a year-long process that starts in the month of June and ends in April, and the final list comes in the month of May.
Name of the Exam | Civil Service Examination |
Organizing Body | Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) |
Exam Level | National |
Exam Mode | Paper and Pen-based( Offline) |
Number of Vacancies | Approx. 90 |
Number of Services | 24 |
Number of Attempts | 6 times |
Number of Registrations | Approx. 9Lakh |
Admit Card | Online |
Official Website | https://www.upsc.gov.in/ |
IFoS EXAM
The UPSC generally releasees the date of the Civil Services Examinations notification in the month of February. Aspirants willing to appear for this All Indian Services along with other services can apply online by visiting the official website of UPSC.
Notification | Month |
Civil Service Examination Advertisement | February |
IFoS- Online Application Form | February to March |
IFoS- Preliminary Admit Card | 2nd Week of May |
IFoS- Preliminary Exam | October |
IFoS- Preliminary Result | November |
IFoS-Main Exam | January |
IFoS-Main Result | February |
IFoS-Interview | March to April |
IFoS-Final Result | May |
Eligibility Criteria: IFoS
1. Nationality
- Candidates must be a citizen of India
- Candidates must be a citizen of Nepal or a subject of Bhutan.
- Candidates must be Tibetan refugees who came to India before January 1, 1962, for settling permanently in India.
- Candidates must a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Burma, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Myanmar, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Vietnam, Zaire with the motive to settle permanently in India.
2. Educational Qualification
- Candidate must hold any Bachelor’s degree from recognized universities with at least any of the subjects like Animal Husbandry & Veterinary, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, Zoology OR
- Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture or Forestry or Engineering from a recognized University.
- Candidates who have appeared for the qualifying exam and are awaiting results are also eligible.
- There is no minimum percentage required for graduation.
3. Age Limit & Number of Attempts
A candidate should be a minimum of 21 years and a maximum of 32 years to appear for the Civil Service Examination. The maximum age mentioned above is relaxable for the following candidates :
- Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST): 5 years
- Other Backward Classes(OBC) : 3 Years
- Defence Service Personnel : 3 years
- Ex-servicemen and ECOs/SSCOs who have served at least 5 years in Military Service as of 1st of August of the Notification Year: 5 years
- Blind, Deaf-mute and physically handicapped person : 10 Years.
Category | Maximum Age Limit | No of Attempts |
General | 32 Years | 06 |
Other Backwards Castes (OBC) | 35 Years | 09 |
Economically Weaker Section(EWS) | 32 Years | 06 |
Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) | 37 Years | Till the age limit |
Physically disabled candidates | 42 Years | For General and OBS candidates = 9
For SC/ST Candidates = Till age limit |
4. Physical Criteria
The candidate must be physically fit as per the physical standard mentioned in the advertisement for applying in Indian Forest Service Examination.
IFoS Officer: Roles & Responsibility
- Conservation of both plants and animals with an aim to ensure environmental stability and maintenance of ecological balance.
- To protect and conserve the forest and work towards preserving the forest resources.
- To keep an eye on the illegal logging of the trees, taking initiative to plant more trees and preserving the forest trees
- Implementing the National Forrest Policy with close coordination of Forest Department and Ministry
- To deal with both natural and manmade calamities like Deforestation, Breed vulnerability, human and animal encounters, hunting and poaching of animals, forest fires.
Career Graph of IAS Officer
All the selected candidates are sent for the foundation training course at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie (LBSNAA) followed by a special training at Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun (IGNFA).
The highest post an IFoS officer can aspire to reach is Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. Career graph of an IFoS officer is given below
Designation at Government of India | Designation at State Government | Grade |
Assistant Inspector General of Forests | Assistant Conservator of Forests/Asst. Deputy Conservator of Forests | Junior Time Scale |
Assistant Inspector General of Forests | Deputy Conservator of Forests | Senior Time Scale |
Assistant Inspector General of Forests | Deputy Conservator of Forests | Junior Administrative Grade |
Assistant Inspector General of Forests | Deputy Conservator of Forests (Selection Grade) | Selection Grade |
Deputy Inspector General of Forests | Conservator of Forests /Chief Wildlife Warden | Super Time Grade |
Inspector General of Forests | Chief Conservator of Forests | Senior Administrative Grade |
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests | HAG Scale | |
Additional Director General of Forests | Principal Chief Conservator of Forests | HAG+ Scale |
Director-General of Forests | Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) | Apex Scale |
IFoS EXAM PATTERN
UPSC conducts exams in three-level as mentioned below. The candidate must clear all the 3 exams successfully to get the offer letter from Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
- Preliminary Test
- Main Exam
- Interview.
Stage One-Preliminary Test (400 Marks)
- The Preliminary Exam consists of GS -I (General Studies) & CSAT (Civil Service Aptitude Test).
- Both the papers are objective type (Multiple Choice Question)
- The question papers are set in Hindi and English language.
- Blind candidate gets an additional 20 minutes of time for both the paper.
- Candidates appearing in the preliminary test must qualify for the cut-off score to get themselves eligible for the mains exam.
Paper | Type | Total Marks | Duration |
General Studies I | Objective( MCQ) | 200 | 2 Hours |
General Studies II (CSAT) | Objective( MCQ) | 200 | 2 Hours |
Stage Two-Main Examination (1700 Marks)
- Candidates who qualify the preliminary test are called for the Main Exam.
- Main exam consists of 6 papers.
- The paper will be only in English
- There are 2 optional subjects that the candidate has to choose from.
- The candidate who scores higher than the cut off marks in the main exam will be called for the next round of the selection process which is the interview round.
The written exam consists of the following papers
Paper | Subject | Type | Duration | Total Marks |
Paper I | General English | Descriptive | 3 Hours | 300 |
Paper II | General Knowledge | Descriptive | 3 Hours | 300 |
Paper III | Optional I | Descriptive | 3 Hours | 200 |
Paper IV | Optional II | Descriptive | 3 Hours | 200 |
Paper V | Optional I | Descriptive | 3 Hours | 200 |
Paper VI | Optional II | Descriptive | 3 Hours | 200 |
Sub Total Marks | 1400 | |||
Interview Marks | 300 | |||
Grand Total Marks | 1700 |
List of Optional subjects to be chosen by the candidate for the IFoS exam
Agriculture | Agricultural Engineering |
Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science | Botany |
Chemical Engineering | Chemistry |
Mechanical Engineering | Geology |
Civil Engineering | Mathematics |
Statistics | Physics |
Zoology | Forestry |
Stage Three- Interview (300 Marks )
The candidate who qualify the mains exam is called for the interview process. This is the last and final stage of the recruitment cycle before the results are declared. The maximum marks in the interview is 300 thus accruing the total marks in the merit list to be 1700.
UPSC board takes the interview which consists of the competent panelists, who would judge the candidature on the following grounds :
- Mental Attentiveness
- Critical power of understanding
- Clear and Logical Interpretation
- Balance of Judgement
- Ability of social solidarity and leadership
- Intellectual and virtuous integrity
A physical test will be conducted after the interview. Male candidate will have to complete 25km walk or run in less than 4 hours of time and Female candidates will have to complete 14km walk or run in less than 4 hours.
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