Today it is essential to enlarge the scope of the forest service and rename it as Indian Forest and Environment Service

In the corridors of Indira Paryavaran Bhawan there are whispers about the the Environment Minister’s intention to revamp the forest service cadres.The Indian Forest Service (IFS)is one of the oldest civil servicesand today is in the midst of a big challenge to meet the growing aspiration of the changing society in view of rising population, shrinking resources base, dependency of tribal and rural poor on the forests as also of agriculture and water availability in the country. The threat of climate change and meeting the millennium development goals and the role played by forest in environmental conservation, climate change mitigation and adaption have assumed international dimensions and hence there is a need to revamp the cadre management of various levels of posts.

One of the weakest links in environmental management is the lack of an organized set up at the field and district level. A few years ago, there was a proposal to enlarge the scope of Forest Service and rename it as Indian Forest and Environment Service (IFES). Today it is considered essential to do by reorganizing the IFS. The training of officers shall have to be revised to broaden the course contents. The present cadres of pollution control board, etc., shall be subsumed in this new service. At the headquarters there should be different independent wings to give focus to emerging challenges in the sector.

The job profile of foresters of all rankshas changed a lot since its organizational structure was created in British period which proved the test of that time. However, after independence, the number of posts increased haphazardly to meet the new policy framework yettoday the structure remains truncated at the point of delivery i.e. the forest beat level which is headed by the forest guards who have no in depth knowledge of policy issues and spreading dimensions of forest management and also at the district level the set-up is incongruous with civil administration. In Tripura, the government in 2015 replaced the Divisions with functional territorial forest sub-division headed by the State Forest Service (SFS) officers. The Ranges were made co-terminus with blocks and the District set-up with District Forest Officers made co-terminus with civil administration for better coordination and to integrate with other departments and for better man power utilization. There may be more officers at the district level for other line functions but territorial administration becomes unified and focused. The experience improved the efficiency at delivery point with the use of state forest officers gainfully. This exercise should be done all over India by review of SFS, range officers and other subordinate cadres. The forest beats should be headed by the forester rank official. Forest Thana should also be established in certain locations. All ranks in subordinate forest officials should be at par with police in rank and pay. Like police personnel the forest field staff must be paid 13 months’ salary and other facilities. Forest field staff needs to be provided with better weapons, vehicles and other infrastructure to meet the challenges from smugglers. However, in many big forested districts like Saranda and Chaisbasa, etc., it may be possible to do it by posting more Additional DFOs in senior scale.

There is also a need to focus on the task of technology development at the state level. There is a need to create Forest Research and Environment Service sub-cadre which will work both at the government of India as well as at state level. The Director of Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy should be designated as Director-General Training and all SFS and other cadre’s training institutions should be placed under him to streamline the training and bring uniformity in forestry training of all categories of forestry personnel.

A few months ago, National Commission of Schedule Tribes recommended renaming the IFS as Indian Forest and Tribal Development Service. The proposed forest and environment service can actually be assigned the tribal development work which will promote harmony in forests conservation and tribal development.

Forests constitute more than 21 percent of our land mass. Many economists argue that its contribution to GDP should also be commensurate. Eco-development has tremendous potential to garner revenue for the government as well as local people and farmers and it should be made central activity of forest management. National and State level independent Eco-development wings/ boards or corporations need to be set up to harness the potential.

It would be necessary to set up a study group outside the Ministry to propose changes and then discuss it extensively with states before implementation.

(The author is Chairman. Centre for Resource Management and Environment.  The views expressed are personal.)