IFoS - Indian Forest Service

Think about whether such demolition are justified and is there a better way to deal with violations than destroying resources? https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2019/09/12/explained-maradu-flats-supreme-court.amp.html

Criticism of Tiger Census by Ullas Karanth, a well-known expert https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/20/why-indias-tiger-census-is-misleading

Criticism of the India SOFR 2021 - be clear on which criticism is genuine and what is needed to overcome those shortcomings https://m.thewire.in/article/environment/why-experts-arent-convinced-by-indias-new-state-of-forest-report

India's Timber Imports - why, which species, from where, how to address. Connect with IFA Amdt to remove Bamboo grown on non-forest areas from definition of "tree" https://m.tribuneindia.com/news/features/wood-security-is-a-step-towards-self-reliance-250489

Will be posting some articles relevant for the interview candidates

Good luck to those appearing for the interview. The single most important aspect of the DAF is cadre preferences. You'll be spending the rest of your service (in many cases, rest of your life) in the cadre. There is a lot of variation from IAS/ IPS - a good cadre for IAS might be extremely bad for IFS. But unfortunately, people fill in same or similar preferences. If you want help, DM me a draft at @vishalk2619 . I'll reply with comments in a day.

This is just one of the inputs for filling. You have to consider your personal background, lifestyle aspirations, family commitments, etc too.

*General cadre preferences for IFS* North - Raj > UK > HP > HRY > PNB > AGMUT South - Karnataka > Telangana > Andhra > Tamil Nadu > Kerala East - Odisha > JHRK > UP > Bihar West - MP > MH > CG > GJ NE - Assam > WB > Tripura > Sikkim > Manipur > Nagaland

*Opportunity to work with Min of Social Justice* If any of you are interested in working on tribal issues, Min of Social Justice, GoI is hiring. Good pay (75, 000 per month) 2-year term Age limit < 25 years Last day of application - 31st May Work starts - 15th July http://www.dbtmis-msje.gov.in/pmu_nisd/(S(2oy5ig2h1kkodhlmdcjaeu1m))/advertisement/detailed_advertisement.pdf

With one week left for the exam, here are some things to keep in mind - 1) English can give great return on time spent - give one full day to letter format, report format, etc. There's a huge variation from 130 to 190 in marks and it has nothing to do with how good you're at English generally. 2) If you've opted for completely new subjects, focus on structure and presentation more than content now. It is sometimes difficult to exactly address the demand of the question, and at times, even to understand the question. Write definition, make diagrams, break question neatly into parts and write whatever you know about that topic. 3) Write at least 2 Forestry tests for P1 and P2. You can practise implementing point #2 in these tests. Some of you will have the temptation to spend that time in reading given there's only 1 week left, but writing is the most imp thing you can do right now. If you've a mental block, it's okay to open the book and copy from there, but do write. 4) For Forestry, select a few topics and make them strong, rather than revising the entire syllabus. I would recommend Mensuration, Management, WP, Mangrove/ Desert, Forest Laws, etc. Keep special focus on easy repeated questions like Nursery layout, list of Forest types in India, CAI/ MAI, etc 5) Don't bother about reading SnT, Medieval, Economy, etc for GK, unless you're just revising short notes. In any case, don't devote more than 10 hours cumulatively to it. Good luck! :)

This is the final set of notes where I have combined all the remaining topics.

Case study for Afforestation/ Reforestation/ Community involvement/ Participatory forestry

For easy access, here's a running post of all the Forestry notes. This will be updated everytime new notes are posted - 1) Silviculture - https://t.me/IFoSTips/31 2) Mangroves & Deserts - https://t.me/IFoSTips/33 3) Working Plan - https://t.me/IFoSTips/37 4) Mensuration - https://t.me/IFoSTips/40 5) Management - https://t.me/IFoSTips/45 6) Soils, watershed - https://t.me/IFoSTips/46 7) Remaining miscellaneous notes - https://t.me/IFoSTips/47