IFoS - Indian Forest Service

A brief comment on these notes - 1) My focus was on Sec A of both papers for 3 out of 5 questions. While I do have some notes for Sec B, they aren't comprehensive. I'll post them in a few days. But if you're planning to attempt more from Sec B or want to cover 100% syllabus thoroughly, please complement these notes with Sec B stuff from Manikandan. 2) I understand that many of you want all notes as soon as possible. However, it takes me time to clean them up (they're highlighted in 3-4 colors, have mnemonics/ abbreviations, aren't in a printable format, etc). I will continue posting at my convenience.

Case study for Forest laws like FCA or CAMPA/ forest economics - Green Credit Scheme can help balance forest conservation with economic remuneration and infrastructure development

Important case study for tribology and minor forest produce from Nagaland

1) Use data points like this from newspaper for writing introduction on Qs on forest fire 2) Use recent technology like FAST, MODIS in conclusion as suggestions on how to control fires

As most of you would know, prelims has been postponed to 4th of October. 1) If you are an average student starting today, you can easily clear prelims with IFoS cut-off in 4 months. In fact, most toppers I know devoted only 6 to 10 weeks exclusively for prelims prep. So, this is a god-send opportunity for those of you who have wasted time till now. 2) For a competitive exam, additional time —> more preparation —> higher cut-off. So, topics which you might have left earlier for lack of time (culture? medieval history? Science & tech?) might play a critical role now. 3) You can utilize this additional time to - - Fortify your prelims preparation (those who are not confident about prelims) - Take one-step advantage over others in mains (those who are confident about prelims) 4) I also saw a report from ifos.acads.ai website about Forestry course - many of you have spent considerable time & made good progress in reading. Some of you wanted a PDF that you can print - I'm attaching a PDF for Silviculture.

http://newsonair.com/News?title=Uttar-Pradesh-govt-to-develop-800-km-roads-as-Herbal-roads&id=389832 Forestry - being a static subject - does not have a lot of dependence on current affairs. However, if you are able to form some 40-50 case studies like this for Agroforestry/ Social Forestry/ Forest Laws/ Forest Economics/ etc, it will give you IMMENSE lead over other candidates. Remember, it's a competitive exam and what matters is how you differentiate yourself from others. It is not enough to just write this in the paper. You should ensure that it stands out and catches the examiner's eye. Otherwise, all your hard work won't fetch proportionate marks. Draw a box around it or give a separate subheading of case study. Some other case studies you can prepare - 1) Judicial pronouncements - Godavarman case, recent SC ruling on FRA, etc 2) Emerging technologies in Forestry - Miyawaki technique, use of drones for plantation (specially in mangroves), precision forestry, etc 3) Recently awarded initiatives - Padma Shri for Seed Mother, Tulsi Gowda - "encyclopedia" of forest, etc

I have shared my Forestry notes at - ifos.acads.ai They are absolutely free of cost. I just wanted to emphasize a couple of points on how to use them - 1) If you've cleared prelims before and are confident, this is a good time to invest 8-10 days in Forestry and go through these notes. If this is your first attempt, DO NOT TAKE ANY CHANCE WITH PRELIMS 2) Read through the syllabus and 3-4 years of UPSC question papers before starting with any books/ notes 3) Start with Silviculture topic. It is foundational to all of Forestry. You wouldn't understand if you don't know Silviculture. Spend 3-4 days out of 8-10 on Silviculture 4) Pay more attention to Section A in both paper 1 and paper 2. Section B includes generic topics like soil, forest laws, etc that everyone can write one. But Sec A gives you competitive advantage. 5) You need to read only 1 book - Manikandan and Prabhu. LS Khanna, RPH, etc are not required. (If you have a background in Forestry, please ignore this comment) 6) How to read - Do a quick reading of my notes. Don't worry if you don't understand everything. After you're done with first reading, do a quick reading of Manikandan. Finally, do another reading of the notes and learn the notes by heart. 7) I have not included diagrams in these notes. Please read those from Manikandan.

As I had promised, I'll start sharing my notes from 20th May. Sorry for the inadvertent delay due to lockdown. We'll start with Forestry since - 1) Many aspirants have no prior knowledge of Forestry 2) Delay in preliims has given you free time to go through Forestry once 3) High-scoring nature of the subject The notes will be available at - ifos.acads.ai It is in the form of a complete course, including notes + test series. I found this format of sharing better since - 1) I can keep updating info as and when required, basis current events, bills, acts, etc 2) Test series will provide you an idea of your weak-points 3) Incorporate notes, answer sheets of other toppers It is absolutely free of cost for first 10k subscribers.

Some of you had queries about where to prepare English from. Some comments on that - 1) I used RPH Group PYQ book for previous year questions - mostly on English grammar and some GK questions. 2) Attached NCERT pdf for letter writing - please go through this and prepare your own format. Don't rely on writing spontaneously during exam. 3) For report writing, please watch some Youtube videos and again prepare your own format. 4) I had joined Shankar's test series for both GK & English for IFS. The tests were good.

Forest mensuration 1) This is an important topic since it has very little subjectivity. If attempted correctly, it has very high conversion from correct attempt to marks scored. 2) However, many aspirants struggle with this topic due to trigonometry and Maths involved. This is specially true for those without engineering background. 3) Practising the diagrams and formulae by hand will help you remember them easily. 4) This course taught by an IFS officer provides an easy-to-understand introduction to Forest Mensuration. You can watch it at 1.5X or 2X. However, this is not for people who are already comfortable with Maths. 5) You can fetch more marks by drawing clearly labelled diagrams, commenting about use of/ error in the formula asked, etc. https://nptel.ac.in/courses/102104060/

For IFS General Studies paper, important components that can fetch you additional marks are - 1) Data points - Introductions with data points look very neat and standard. 2) Case studies - from other countries or states 3) Quotes, committee names, constitutional articles, report names, etc You should prepare separate material from newspaper/ ISFR/ googling for these components so that it can be quickly revised. Also, view these components from a wide lense while using them - not limited to GS, but can be used in essay, optional, etc. I'm attaching some examples.

One of the quickest and easiest way to boost your Forestry marks is by enriching your answers using names of tree species. This gives an impression to the examiner that you really know your subject in depth. You should prepare tables like these for common parameters like 1. Soil type (acidic, alkaline...) 2. Uses (furniture, medicine...) 3. Drought resistance 4. Wind resistance 5. Seed treatment 6. Champion & Seth classification 6. Mangroves, xerophytes And so on. Whenever there is a question about any of these parameters, writing the names of species will fetch you 1-2 extra marks. For example, if there's a question on effect of Frost on trees, you must write examples of Frost sensitive and frost hardy species. Sometimes, there's a direct question to name species of a particular type. For example, in 2019 there was a 10-marker in paper 1. I'm attaching examples of such tables. Many times, it's not possible to remember so many species. But try to remember the genus at least.