New Delhi: It was in 1980 that for the first time three women were appointed officers in the Indian Forest Service (IFoS). Last week, 35 years later, even as the proportion of women in the IFoS remains low, the service has created history by appointing an all-women national council.
In the elections conducted for the national executive council, Jyotsna Sitling, an officer of the 1987 Batch was elected Patron, Anita Karan of the 1997 Batch was elected President, Monalisa Dash of the 2003 Batch was elected Secretary General, Dr Surbhi Rai of the 2005 Batch was elected Joint Secretary, and Chestha Singh of the 2018 Batch was elected Literary Secretary.
While two office-bearers of the newly elected council who spoke on condition of anonymity told ThePrint that the election of an all-women council was not specifically intended, they agreed that it marks a significant moment in the history of the All India Service (AIS), which has for long been considered a male bastion.
While the IFoS was created in its present form as an AIS alongside the IAS and the IPS in 1966, the first women entered the service in 1980.
According to the latest data, as of 2021, of the estimated strength of around 2,100 IFoS officers serving at the time, 284, or 13.5 percent, were women.
“There are very few women in the IFoS,” said an officer who did not wish to be named. “Most batches don’t have more than 10 percent women. In my batch, there are no more than 6-7 women. In my cadre in my batch, I am the only woman,” she said.
Adding, “You don’t face in-your-face discrimination anymore, but it is still considered one of those services ill-suited for women.
“A lot of women themselves believe that they should be in urban areas, which are more conducive for raising families than be in the jungles.”
The broad mandate of the IFoS entails “the implementation of the National Forest Policy which envisages scientific management of forests and to exploit them on a sustained basis for primary timber products, among other things”. Constituted in 1966 under the All India Services Act, 1951, the IFoS has a cadre strength of 3,152 officers.
“Even within the forests, the resistance that IFoS officers generally face from people is doubled in the case of women,” another woman officer added. “You are both an outsider and a woman, so the hostility is higher.”
Then there are the issues of the barely-existent infrastructure like toilets, private spaces, etc. for women.
It is not just the perils involved in the line of duty that these officers have to navigate, but also dealing with the land mafia, mining mafia, problems arising from Left Wing Extremism (LWE) and above all, political pressures that make their job much harder.
“Some of the problems are gendered, but not all,” said the officer. “The main issue with being an IFoS officer is that from politicians to people to businesses, everyone thinks of us as a roadblock. Given that we are far away from public glare also means that we are not part of the mainstream imagination at all.”
However, these are just teething problems. Within 5-7 years, even IFoS officers come to the secretariats or get urban postings, she said.
Once considered a bastion of the IAS, a large number of IFoS officers are posted at the Centre in different ministries on deputation now. As of October 2024, there were four additional secretaries and 16 joint secretaries who belonged to the IFoS.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: MP govt order letting DMs evaluate forest officers puts conservation in jeopardy—IFS Association