Name of the Post: UPSC Indian Forest Service Exam Online Form 2021
Post Date: 04-03-2021
Total Vacancy: 110
Examination Fee
For Others: Rs. 100/-
For Female/ SC/ ST/ PwBD candidate: NIL
Payment Mode: Depositing the money in any Branch of SBI by cash/ Net Banking/ Credit/ Debit card.
Important Dates
Last Date to Apply Online: 24-03-2021 till 18.00 Hours.
Last Date for Payment of Fee (Pay-in-Slip): 23-03-2021 at 23:59 Hrs
Last Date for Payment of Fee (Online): 24-03-2021 till 18.00 hours
Dates for withdrawing of online Applications: 31-03-2021 to 06-04-2021 till 6.00 PM
Date for Prelims Exam: 27-06-2021
Dates for Mains Exam: November, 2021
Age Limit (as on 01-08-2021)
Minimum Age: 21 Years
Maximum Age: 32 Years
Candidate must have been born not earlier than 02-08-1989 and not later than 01-08-2000
Age Relaxation is applicable as per rules.
Qualification
Candidates should possess Bachelor’s Degree (Relevant Disciplines).
Vacancy Details | |
Post Name | Total Post |
Indian Forest Service Exam 2021 | 110 |
Interested Candidates Can Read Full Notification Before Apply Online | |
Important Links | |
Apply Online | Click Here |
Selection Process | Click Here |
Exam Pattern | Click Here |
Eligibility Criteria | Click Here |
Syllabus | Click Here |
Notification | Click Here |
Official Website | Click Here |
IMPORTANT
• CANDIDATES APPLYING FOR INDIAN FOREST SERVICE EXAMINATION SHOULD NOTE THAT THEY ARE
REQUIRED TO APPEAR IN THE CIVIL SERVICES (PRELIMINARY) EXAMINATON AND QUALIFY THE
SAME FOR GOING TO THE SECOND STAGE OF INDIAN FOREST SERVICE (MAIN) EXAMINATION
(WRITTEN AND INTERVIEW).
• CANDIDATES DESIROUS OF APPLYNG FOR INDIAN FOREST SERVICE EXAMINATION AS WELL AS FOR
CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION CAN APPLY THROUGH A COMMON ONLINE APPLICATION FORM
SUBJECT TO MEETING THE REQUISITE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA BY THEM.
- CANDIDATES TO ENSURE THEIR ELIGIBILITIY FOR THE EXAMINATION:
All candidates (male/female/transgender) are requested to carefully read the Rules of Indian Forest Service Examination
notified by the Government (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) and this Notice of Examination derived
from these Rules.
Candidates applying for the examination should ensure that they fulfill all eligibility conditions for admission to
the Examination. Their admission at all the stages of the examination will be purely provisional subject to
satisfying the prescribed eligibility conditions. Mere issue of Admission Certificate to the candidate will not
imply that his/her candidature has been finally cleared by the Commission. Verification of eligibility
conditions with reference to original documents is taken up only after the candidate has qualified for
Interview/Personality Test. The Commission takes up verification of eligibility conditions with reference to
original documents only after the candidate has qualified for Interview/ Personality Test. - HOW TO APPLY
Candidates are required to apply Online only by using the website http://www.upsconline. nic.in. Brief
instructions are for filling up the online Applications Form have been given in Appendix-II(A). Detailed
instructions for filling up online applications are available on the above mentioned website.
2.1 The Commission has introduced the facility of withdrawal of Application for those candidates who do not want to appear for the Examination. In this regard, Instructions are mentioned in Appendix-II(B) of this Examination Notice.
2.2 Candidate should have details of one Photo ID Card viz. Aadhaar Card/Voter Card/PAN Card/Passport/Driving Licence/Any other Photo ID Card issued by the State/Central Government. The details of this Photo ID Card will have to be provided by the candidate while filling up the online application form. The candidates will have to upload a scanned copy of the Photo ID whose details have been provided in the online application by him/her. This Photo ID Card will be used for all future referencing and the candidate is advised to carry this Photo ID Card while appearing for Examination/Personality Test. - LAST DATE OF SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS:
The Online Applications can be filled up to 24th March, 2021 till 18.00 Hours. - The eligible candidates shall be issued an e-Admit Card three weeks before the commencement of the examination. The e-Admit Card will be made available in the UPSC website [http://www.upsconline. nic.in.] for downloading by candidates. No Admission Certificate will be sent by post. All the applicants are required to
provide valid active E-Mail I.D. while filling up Online Application Form as the Commission may use electronic mode for contacting them at different stages of examination process. - PENALTY FOR WRONG ANSWERS :
Candidates should note that there will be penalty (Negative Marking) for wrong answers marked by a candidate in the Objective Type Question Papers. - For both writing and marking answers in the OMR sheet [Answer Sheet], candidates must use black ball pen only. Pens with any other colours are prohibited. Do not use Pencil or Ink pen. Candidates are further advised to read carefully the “Special Instructions” contained in Appendix-III of the Notice.
- FACILITATION COUNTER FOR GUIDANCE OF CANDIDATES :
In case of any guidance/information/clarification regarding their applications, candidature etc. candidates can contact UPSC’s Facilitation Counter near ‘C’ Gate of its campus in person or over Telephone No. 011- 23385271/011-23381125/011-23098543 on working days between 10.00 hrs. and 17.00 hrs. - Mobile Phones Banned:
(a)The use of any mobile phone (even in switched off mode), pager or any electronic equipment or programmable device or storage media like pen drive, smart watches etc. or camera or blue tooth devices or any other equipment or related accessories either in working or switched off mode capable of being used as a
communication device during the examination is strictly prohibited. Any infringement of these instructions shall entail disciplinary action including ban from future examinations.
(b) Candidates are advised in their own interest not to bring any of the banned items including mobile phones/pagers to the venue of the examination, as arrangement for safe-keeping cannot be assured. Commission will not be responsible for any loss in this regard. - Candidates are advised not to bring any valuable/costly items to the venue of the examination, as safekeeping of the same cannot be assured. Commission will not be responsible for any loss in this regard. CANDIDATES ARE REQUIRED TO APPLY ONLINE ONLY. NO OTHER MODE IS ALLOWED FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION
The centres and the date of holding the examination as mentioned above are liable to
be changed at the discretion of the Commission. Applicants should note that there
will be a ceiling on the number of candidates allotted to each of the Centres, except
Chennai, Dispur, Kolkatta and Nagpur. Allotment of Centres will be on the “firstapply-first allot” basis, and once the capacity of a particular Centre is attained, the
same will be frozen. Applicants, who cannot get a Centre of their choice due to ceiling,
will be required to choose a Centre from the remaining ones. Applicants are, thus,
advised that they may apply early so that they could get a Centre of their choice.
NB: Notwithstanding the aforesaid provision, Commission reserves the right to
change the Centres at their discretion if the situation demands.
All the Examination Centres for CS(P) 2021 Examination will cater to examination for
Low Vision Candidates in their respective centres. Candidates admitted to the
examination will be informed of the time table and place or places of examination.
The candidates should note that no request for change of centre will be entertained.
(B) PLAN OF EXAMINATION
The Indian Forest Service Examination will consist of two successive stages (vide
Appendix I Section-I below).
(i) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective type) for the selection of
candidates for the Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination; and
(ii) Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection
of candidates for the Indian Forest Service.
Applications are now invited for the Preliminary Examination only. Candidates
who will be declared by the Commission to have qualified for admission to the Indian
Forest Service (Main) Examination will have to apply again and submit on-line
Detailed Application Form-I [DAF-I] along with scanned documents/certificates in
support of date of birth, category {viz. SC/ST/OBC(without OBC Annexure)/EWS
[Economically Weaker Sections] (with EWS Annexure)/PwBD/Ex-Serviceman} and
educational qualification with required Examination Fee. Any delay in submission
of DAF-I or documents in support beyond the prescribed date will not be
allowed and will lead to cancellation of the candidature for the IFoS Exam,
2021.
The candidates who are declared to have qualified Indian Forest Service
(Main) Examination will be required to mandatorily indicate order of
preferences of Zones/Cadres in the on-line Detailed Application Form-II (DAFII), before the commencement of Personality Tests (Interviews) of the
examination. With this Form, a candidate will also be required to upload
documents/certificates for higher education, achievements in different fields,
service experience, OBC Annexure (for OBC category only) EWS Annexure (for
EWS category only), etc. Any delay in submission of DAF-II or documents in
support beyond the prescribed date will not be allowed and will lead to
cancellation of the candidature for the IFoS Exam, 2021.
The Main Examination is likely to be held in November, 2021. The Main
Examination will be held on the following Centres :
Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Dispur (Guwahati), Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Nagpur, Port Blair and Shimla.
- The number of vacancies to be filled on the results of the examination is expected
to be approximately 110. The number of vacancies is liable to alteration. Reservation
will be made for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other
Backward Classes, Economically Weaker Section and Person with Benchmark
Disability Categories in respect of vacancies as may be fixed by the Government.
Note: As per the information received from the Ministry of Environment, Forests
and Climate Change, two vacancies have been kept reserved for Low Vision
category, two vacancies (one backlog vacancy) have been kept reserved for
Partially Deaf category and two vacancies (one backlog vacancy) have been
kept reserved for Locomotor disability (sub-category : Leprosy cured and
Acid attack). However the vacancies indicated are liable to further
alteration.
As per the decision taken by the Government for increasing the access of
unemployed to job opportunities, the Commission will publically disclose the scores of
the candidates (obtained in the Written Examination and Interview/Personality Test)
through the public portals. The disclosure will be made in respect of only those
candidates who will appear in the Interview/Personality Test for the Indian Forest
Service Examination and are not finally recommended for appointment. The
information shared through this disclosure scheme about the non-recommended
candidates may be used by other public and private recruitment agencies to appoint
suitable candidates from the information made available in the public portal.
Candidates will be required to give their options at the time of
Interview/Personality Test, while acknowledging the e-summon letter mailed to them
for interview. A candidate may opt out of the scheme also and in that case his/her
details will not be published by the Commission.
Besides sharing of the information of the non-recommended candidates for the
examinations conducted by the Commission, the Commission will not assume any
responsibility of liability for the method and manner in which information related to
candidates who appear at the Commission’s Examinations/Selections is utilized by
other private of public organizations. - ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS :
(i) NATIONALITY :
A candidate must be either :-
(a) A citizen of India, or
(b) a subject of Nepal, or
(c) a subject of Bhutan, or
(d) a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the
intention of permanently settling in India, or
(e) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Srilanka, East
African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia,
Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in
India.
Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be a person
in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.
A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary, may be admitted to
the examination but the offer of appointment may be given only after the necessary
eligibility certificate has been issued to him/her by the Government of India.
(ii) AGE LIMITS :
(a) A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the
age of 32 years on 1st August, 2021, i.e. he must have been born not earlier than
2nd August, 1989 and not later than 1st August, 2000.
(b) The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable:-
(i) upto a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a
Scheduled Tribe.
(ii) upto a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other
Backward Classes who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such
candidates.
(iii) upto a maximum of three years in the case of Defence Services personnel disabled
in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and
released as a consequence thereof:
(iv) upto a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including
Commissioned Officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years
Military Service as on 1st August, 2021 and have been released;
(i) on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be
completed within one year from 1st August, 2021) otherwise than by way of
dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or
(ii) on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service, or
(iii) on invalidment.
(v) upto a maximum of five years in the case of ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an
initial period of assignment of five years of Military Service as on 1st August, 2021
and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the
Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and
that they will be released on three month’s notice on selection from the date of
receipt of offer of appointment.
(vi) up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities
viz. (a) low vision; (b) Partially deaf; (c) locomotor disability (Sub-category : leprosy
cured and acid attack victims only).
NOTE I : Candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
and the Other Backward Classes who are also covered under any other clauses of
para 3(ii)(b) above, viz. those coming under the category of Ex-servicemen, Low Vision,
Hearing Impaired (Partially deaf) and Locomotor disability (sub-category : Leprosy
cured and Acid attack) person etc. will be eligible for grant of cumulative age
relaxation under both the categories.
NOTE II : In regard to Functional Classification and Physical Requirements of PwBD
candidates, the same procedure as has been followed till the previous examination
may be followed by the Government (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
Change).
NOTE III : The term Ex-servicemen will apply to the persons who are defined as exservicemen in the Ex-servicemen (Re-employment in Civil Services and Posts) rules,
1979 as amended from time to time.
NOTE IV : The age concession under para 3(ii)(b)(iv) and (v) will be admissible to ExServicemen i.e. a person who has served in any rank whether as combatant or noncombatant in the Regular Army, Navy and Air Force of the Indian Union and who
either has been retired or relieved or discharged from such service whether at his own
request or being relieved by the employer after earning his or her pension.
NOTE V : Notwithstanding the provision of age relaxation under para 3(ii)(b)(vi) above
a person with benchmark disability candidate will be considered to be eligible for
appointment only if he/she (after such physical examination as the Government or
appointing authority, as the case may be, may prescribe) is found to satisfy the
requirements of physical and medical standards for the concerned Services/Posts to
be allocated to the person with benchmark disability candidates by the Government.
SAVE AS PROVIDED ABOVE THE AGE LIMITS PRESCRIBED CAN IN NO CASE BE
RELAXED.
NOTE VI : The date of birth accepted by the Commission is that entered in the
Matriculation or Secondary School Leaving Certificate or in a certificate recognized by
an Indian University as equivalent to Matriculation or in an extract from a Register of
Matriculates maintained by a University, which extract must be certified by the proper
authority of the University or in the Higher Secondary or an equivalent examination
certificate.
These certificates are required to be submitted only at the time of applying for
the Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination.
No other document relating to age like horoscopes, affidavits, birth extracts from
Municipal Corporation, service records and the like will be accepted.
The expression Matriculation/Secondary Examination Certificate in this part of the
instruction includes the alternative certificates mentioned above.
NOTE VII : Candidates should note that only the Date of Birth as recorded in the
Matriculation/Secondary Examination Certificate or an equivalent certificate on
the date of submission of applications will be accepted by the Commission and
no subsequent request for its change will be considered or granted.
NOTE VIII : Candidates should also note that once a Date of Birth has been
submitted by them in the application form and entered in the records of the
Commission for the purpose of admission to an Examination, no change will be
allowed subsequently (or at any other Examination of the Commission) on any
grounds whatsoever.
NOTE IX : The candidate should exercise due care while entering their date of
birth in the Online Application Form. If on verification at any subsequent stage,
any variation is found in their date of birth from the one entered in their
matriculation or equivalent Examination certificate, disciplinary action will be
taken against them by the Commission under the Rules.
(iii) MINIMUM EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS: A candidate must hold a
Bachelor’s degree with at least one of the subjects namely Animal Husbandry &
Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and
Zoology or a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Forestry or in Engineering of any of
Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or
other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be
deemed as a University under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act,
1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.
Note I : Candidates who have appeared at an examination the passing of which would
render them educationally qualified for the Commission’s examination but have not
been informed of the results as also the candidates who intend to appear at such a
qualifying examination will also be eligible for admission to the Preliminary
Examination. All candidates who are declared qualified by the Commission for taking
the Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination will be required to produce proof of
passing the requisite examination with their application (i.e. Detailed Application
Form-I) for the Main Examination failing which such candidates will not be admitted
to the Indian Forest Service Main Examination. Such proof of passing the requisite
examination should be dated earlier than the due date (closing date) of Detailed
Application Form-I of the Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination. The applications
for the Main Examination will be called sometime in the month of August, 2021
through on-line mode.
NOTE II : In addition, the candidates who possess qualification equivalent to those
specified in Rule 7 will be required to produce a certificate from University
incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational
institutions established by an Act of the Parliament or declared to be deemed as a
University under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 clarifying
that the degree is at par with the Bachelor degree specified in Rule 7 along with their
application for the Main Examination failing which such candidate will not be
admitted to the Main Examination.
NOTE III : In exceptional cases the Union Public Service Commission may treat a
candidate who has not any of the foregoing qualifications as a qualified candidate
provided that he/she has passed examination conducted by the other Institutions, the
standard of which in the opinion of the Commission justifies his/her admission to the
examination.
(iv) NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS :
Every candidate appearing at the Examination, who is otherwise eligible, shall be
permitted six attempts at the examination.
Provided that this restriction on the number of attempts will not apply in the case of
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates who are otherwise eligible.
Provided further that the number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to
Other Backward Classes who are otherwise eligible, shall be nine.
Provided further that a person with benchmark disability will get as many attempts as
are available to other candidates who do not belong to person with benchmark
disability of his or her community, subject to the condition that a person with
benchmark disability belonging to the General and EWS Category shall be eligible for
nine attempts.. The relaxation will be available to the persons with benchmark
disability who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.
NOTE :
(i) An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the
Examination.
(ii) If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination,
as a candidate for the Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination, it will be deemed
that the candidate has made an attempt at the Examination.
(iii) Notwithstanding the disqualification/cancellation of candidature, the fact of
appearance of the candidate at the examination will count as an attempt.
(V) MEDICAL AND PHYSICAL STANDARDS :
Candidates must be physically fit according to physical standards for admission to
Indian Forest Service Examination, 2021 as per regulations given in Appendix-III of
the rules for the Indian Forest Service Examination, 2021 published in Gazette of
India dated 04th March, 2021.
- FEE
Candidates applying (excepting Female/SC/ST/PwBD candidates who are exempted
from payment of fee) for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination are required to pay a
fee of Rs.100/- (Rupees One Hundred only) either by depositing the money in any
Branch of SBI by cash, or by using net banking facility of State Bank of India or by
using Visa/Master/RuPay Credit/Debit card.
Applicants who opt for “Pay by Cash” mode should print the system generated Pay-inslip during part II registration and deposit the fee at the counter of SBI Branch on the
next working day only. “Pay by Cash” mode will be deactivated at 23.59 hours of
23.03.2021 i.e. one day before the closing date; however applicants who have
generated their Pay-in-Slip before it is deactivated may pay at the counter of SBI
Branch during banking hours on the closing date. Such applicants who are unable to
pay by cash on the closing i.e. during banking hours at SBI Branch, for reasons
whatsoever, even if holding valid pay-in-slip will have no other offline option but to opt
for available online Debit/Credit Card or Internet Banking payment mode on the
closing date i.e. till 18.00 hours of 24.03.2021.
For the applicant in whose case payments details have not been received from the
bank, they will be treated as fictitious payment cases and a list of all such applicants
shall be made available on the Commission’s website within two weeks after the last
day of submission of Online Application. These applicants shall also be intimated
through e-mail to submit copy of proof of their payment to the Commission at the
address mentioned in the e-mail. The applicant shall be required to submit the proof
within 10 days from the date of such communication either by hand or by speed post
to the Commission. In case, no response is received from the applicant, their
application shall be summarily rejected and no further correspondence shall be
entertained in this regard.
All female candidates and candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled
Tribes/Person with benchmark disability categories are not required to pay any fee.
No fee exemption is, however, available to OBC/EWS candidates and they are
required to pay the full prescribed fee. There will be separate examination fee for
Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination, for those who will qualify for the same
through the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, for which appropriate notice will
be issued at the time of filling up of on-line application for the second stage.
Persons with benchmark disability are exempted from the payment of fee provided
they are otherwise eligible for appointment to the Services/Posts to be filled on the
results of this examination on the basis of the standards of medical fitness for these
Services/Posts (including any concessions specifically extended to the persons with
benchmark disability). A person with benchmark disability claiming age relaxation/fee
concession will be required by the Commission to submit along with his/her Detailed
Application Form – I, a certified copy of the certificate from a Government
Hospital/Medical Board in support of his/her claim for being persons with
benchmark disability.
NOTE : Notwithstanding the aforesaid provision for age relaxation/fee exemption, a
person with benchmark disability will be considered to be eligible for appointment
only if he/she (after such physical examination as the Government or the appointing
authority, as the case may be, may prescribe) is found to satisfy the requirements of
physical and medical standards for the concerned Services/Posts to be allocated to
persons with benchmark disability by the Government.
NOTE I : APPLICATIONS WITHOUT THE PRESCRIBED FEE (UNLESS REMISSION
OF FEE IS CLAIMED) SHALL BE SUMMARILY REJECTED.
NOTE II : Fee once paid shall not be refunded under any circumstances nor can the
fee be held in reserve for any other examination or selection.
NOTE III : If any candidate who took the Indian Forest Service Examination held in
2020 wishes to apply for admission to this examination, he/she must submit his/her
application so as to each the Commission’s Office by the prescribed date without
waiting for the results or an offer of appointment.
- HOW TO APPLY :
(a) Candidates are required to apply Online using the link www.upsconline.nic.in for
Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination which will act as a screening
mechanism for selection of candidates for the Indian Forest Service (Main)
Examination. Candidates who wish to apply for Civil Services Examination also,
[subject to their satisfying the prescribed eligibility conditions] have to apply
once by appropriately indicating in the on-line application form that they intend
to appear for both the Indian Forest Service Examination and the Civil Services
Examination. Candidates, who will qualify for the Indian Forest Service (Main)
Examination, will have to fill in a Detailed Application Form subsequently as per
further instructions to be provided to the candidates through the website
(www.upsconline.nic.in) of the Commission. Detailed instructions for filling up
Online Applications are available on the above mentioned website.
The applicants are advised to submit only single application, however, if due to any
unavoidable situation, if an applicant submits another/multiple applications, then an
applicant must ensure that application with the higher RID is complete in all respects
like applicants details, examination centre, photograph, signature, Photo ID, fee etc.
The applicants who are submitting multiple applications should note that only the
applications with higher RID (Registration ID) shall be entertained by the Commission
and fee paid against one RID shall not be adjusted against any other RID.
(b) All candidates, whether already in Government Service, or in Government owned
industrial undertakings or other similar organizations or in private employment
should submit their applications direct to the Commission.
Persons already in Government service, whether in a permanent or temporary
capacity or as work charged employees other than casual or daily rated employees or
those serving under Public Enterprises are however, required to inform their Head of
Office/Department that they have applied for the Examination.
Candidates should note that in case a communication is received from their employer
by the Commission withholding permission to the candidates applying for/appearing
at the examination, their applications will be liable to be rejected/candidature will be
liable to be cancelled.
NOTE 1: While filling in his/her Application Form, the candidate should carefully
decide about his/her choice of centre for the Examination. If any candidate appears at
a centre other than the one indicated by the Commission in his/her Admission
Certificate, the papers of such a candidate will not be evaluated and his/her
candidature will be liable to cancellation.
NOTE-2: The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the categories of blindness
(partially blind), will be provided the facility of scribe, if desired by the person. In case
of other category of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities as defined under section 2(r)
of the RPWD Act, 2016, the facility of scribe will be allowed to such candidates on
production of a certificate to the effect that the person concerned has physical
limitation to write, and scribe is essential to write examination on behalf, from the
Chief Medical Officer/Civil Surgeon/Medical Superintendent of a Government Health
Care institution as per proforma at Appendix – IV. The candidates have discretion of
opting for his/her own scribe or request the Commission for the same. The details of
scribe i.e. whether own or the Commission’s and the details of scribe in case
candidates are bringing their own scribe, will be sought at the time of filling up the
application form online. Suitable provisions in Online Application have been made.
NOTE 3 : The qualification of the Commission’s scribe as well as own scribe will not
be more than the minimum qualification criteria of the examination. However, the
qualification of the scribe should always be matriculate or above.
NOTE 4 : The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the category of low-vision will
be allowed Compensatory Time of twenty minutes per hour of the examination. In
case of other categories of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, this facility will be
provided on production of a certificate to the effect that the person concerned has
physical limitation to write from the Chief Medical Officer/Civil Surgeon/Medical
Superintendent of a Government Health Care institution as per proforma at
Appendix-IV.
NOTE 5 : Candidates appearing in CS(P) Examination, 2021 will be required to
indicate information such as (a) detail of centres for Civil Services (Main) Examination
and Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination (b) Optional subject to be selected for
both the examinations, (c) medium of examination for Civil Services (Main)
Examination and (d) compulsory Indian language for Civil Services (Main)
Examination at the time of the filling up online application itself, incase he/she is
applying for both the Civil Services Examination and the Indian Forest Service
Examination or else requisite examination specific information, as the case may be.
NOTE 6 : Candidates are not required to submit along with their applications any
certificate in support of their claims regarding Age, Educational Qualifications,
Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward Classes/Economically Weaker
Section and Person with benchmark disability etc. which will be verified at the time of
the Main examination only. The candidates applying for the examination should
ensure that they fulfill all the eligibility conditions for admission to the Examination.
Their admission at all the stages of examination for which they are admitted by the
Commission viz. Preliminary Examination, Main (Written) Examination and
Personality Test (Interview) will be purely provisional, subject to their satisfying the
prescribed eligibility conditions. If on verification at any time before or after the
Preliminary Examination, Main (written) Examination and Personality Test (Interview),
it is found that they do not fulfill any of the eligibility conditions; their candidature for
the examination will be cancelled by the Commission. If any of their claims is found
to be incorrect, they may render themselves liable to disciplinary action by the
Commission in terms of Rule 12 of the Rules for the Indian Forest Service
Examination, 2021 reproduced below :
(1) A candidate who is or has been declared by the Commission to be guilty of :-
(a) Obtaining support for candidature by the following means, namely :-
(i) offering illegal gratification to; or
(ii) applying pressure on; or
(iii) blackmailing, or threatening to blackmail any person connected with the
conduct of the examination; or
(b) impersonation; or
(c) procuring impersonation by any person; or
(d) submitting fabricated/incorrect documents or documents which have been
tampered with; or
(e) uploading irrelevant or incorrect photo/signature in the application form in
place of actual photo/signature; or
(f) making statements which are incorrect or false or suppressing material
information; or
(g) resorting to the following means in connection with the candidature for the
examination, namely :-
(i) obtaining copy of question paper through improper means; or
(ii) finding out the particulars of the persons connected with secret work
relating to the examination; or
(iii) influencing the examiners; or
(h) being in possession of or using unfair means during the examination; or
(i) writing obscene matter or drawing obscene sketches or irrelevant matter in
the scripts; or
(j) misbehaving in the examination hall including tearing of the scripts,
provoking fellow examinees to boycott examination, creating a disorderly
scene and the like; or
(k) harassing, threatening or doing bodily harm to the staff employed by the
Commission for the conduct of the examination; or
(l) being in possession of or using any mobile phone, (even in switched-off
mode), pager or any electronic equipment or programmable device or storage
media like pen drive, smart watches etc. or camera or bluetooth devices or
any other equipment or related accessories (either in working or switched-off
mode) capable of being used as a communication device during the
examination; or
(m) violating any of the instructions issued to candidates along with their
admission certificates permitting them to take the examination; or
(n) attempting to commit or, as the case may be, abetting the commission of all
or any of the acts specified in the foregoing clauses;
in addition to being liable to criminal prosecution, shall be disqualified by the
Commission from the Examination held under these Rules; and/or shall be liable to
be debarred either permanently or for a specified period :-
(i) by the Commission, from any examination or selection held by them;
(ii) by the Central Government from any employment under them;
and shall be liable to face disciplinary action under the appropriate rules if already in
service under Government;
Provided that no penalty under this rule shall be imposed except after :-
(i) giving the candidate an opportunity of making such representation in
writing as the candidate may wish to make in that behalf; and
(ii) taking the representation, if any, submitted by the candidate within the
period allowed for this purpose, into consideration.
(2) Any person who is found by the Commission to be guilty of colluding with a
candidate(s) in committing or abetting the commission of any of the misdeeds listed at
the clauses (a) to (m) above will be liable to action in terms of the clause (n) above. - LAST DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS :
The Online Applications can be filled upto 24th March, 2021 till 18.00 Hours, after
which the link will be disabled. Detailed instructions regarding filling of online
application is available at Appendix-II(A).
WITHDRAWAL OF APPLICATION:
(ii) The online Applications can be withdrawn from 31.03.2021 to 06.04.2021 till
6.00 PM after which the link will be disabled. Detailed instructions regarding
withdrawal of Applications is available at Appendix-II(B). - CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE COMMISSION :
The Commission will not enter into any correspondence with the candidates about
their candidature except in the following cases:
(i) The eligible candidates shall be issued an e-Admit Card about three weeks before
the commencement of the examination. The e-Admit Card will be made available in
the UPSC website [http://www.upsconline. nic.in.] for downloading by candidates.
No Admission Certificate will be sent by post. If a candidate does not receive his/her
e-Admit Card or any other communication regarding his/her candidature for the
examination three weeks before the commencement of the examination, he/she
should at once contact the Commission. Information in this regard can also be
obtained from the Facilitation Counter located in the Commission’s office either in
person or over phone Nos.011-23381125/011-23385271/011-23098543.
In case no communication is received in the Commission’s office from the
candidate regarding non-receipt of his/her e-Admit Card at least three weeks
before the examination, he/she himself/ herself will be solely responsible for
non-receipt of his/her e-Admission Certificate.
No candidate will ordinarily be allowed to take the examination unless he/she holds an
e-certificate of admission for the examination. On receipt of e-Admit Card, candidates
should check it carefully and bring discrepancies/errors, if any, to the notice of UPSC
immediately. The candidates should note that their admission to the examination will
be purely provisional based on the information given by them in the Application Form.
This will be subject to verification of all the eligibility conditions by the UPSC.
The mere fact that a certificate of admission to the Examination has been
issued to a candidate, will not imply that his/her candidature has been finally
cleared by the Commission or that entries made by the candidate in his/her
application for the Preliminary examination have been accepted by the
Commission as true and correct. Candidates may note that the Commission
takes up the verification of eligibility conditions of a candidate, with reference
to original documents, only after the candidate has qualified for Indian Forest
Service (Main) Examination. Unless candidature is formally confirmed by the
Commission, it continues to be provisional.
The decision of the Commission as to the eligibility or otherwise of a candidate for
admission to the Examination shall be final. Candidates should note that the name in
the e-Admit Card in some cases may be abbreviated due to technical reasons.
(ii) In the event of a candidate downloading more than one e-Admit Card from the
website of the Commission, he/she should use only one of these e-Admit Cards for
appearing in the examination and report about the other(s) to the Commission Office.
(iii) Candidates are informed that as the Preliminary Examination is only a screening
test, no marks sheets will be supplied to successful or unsuccessful candidates and
no correspondence will be entertained by the Commission, in this regard.
(iv) Candidates must ensure that their E-mail IDs given in their online Applications
are valid and active as the Commission may use electronic mode of communication
while contacting them at different stages of the examination process.
IMPORTANT : ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO THE COMMISSION SHOULD INVARIABLY
CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING PARTICULARS. - NAME AND YEAR OF THE EXAMINATION
- REGISTRATION I.D. (RID)
- ROLL NUMBER (IF RECEIVED)
- NAME OF CANDIDATE (IN FULL AND IN BLOCK LETTERS)
- COMPLETE POSTAL ADDRESS AS GIVEN IN THE APPLICATION.
- VALID AND ACTIVE E-MAIL I.D.
N.B.I: COMMUNICATION NOT CONTAINING THE ABOVE PARTICULARS MAY NOT BE
ATTENDED TO.
N.B.II : IF A LETTER/COMMUNICATION IS RECEIVED FROM A CANDIDATE AFTER AN
EXAMINATION HAS BEEN HELD AND IT DOES NOT GIVE HIS/HER FULL NAME AND
ROLL NUMBER, IT WILL BE IGNORED AND NO ACTION WILL BE TAKEN THEREON.
N.B.III : CANDIDATES ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO KEEP A PRINTOUT OR SOFT
COPY OF THEIR ONLINE APPLICATION FOR FUTURE REFERENCES. - Reservation against vacancies for Persons with Benchmark Disability:
The eligibility for availing reservation against the vacancies reserved for the persons
with benchmark disability shall be the same as prescribed in “The Rights of Persons
with Disabilities Act, 2016”: Reservation in vacancies for IFoS is granted only to
(a) low vision; (b) Partially deaf; and (c) locomotor disability (sub-category :
leprosy cured and acid attack victims only).
Provided further that the persons with benchmark disability shall also be
required to meet special eligibility criteria in terms of physical
requirements/functional classification (abilities/disabilities) consistent with
requirements of the identified service/post as may be prescribed by its cadre
controlling authority.
The physical requirement and functional classification can for example be one or more
of the following :
Code Physical Requirements
MF 1. Work performed by Manipulation by Fingers
PP 2. Work Performed by Pulling & Pushing
L 3. Work Performed by Lifting
KC 4. Work Performed by Kneeling and Crouching
BN 5. Work Performed by Bending
S 6. Work Performed by Sitting (on bench or chair)
ST 7. Work Performed by Standing
W 8. Work Performed by Walking
SE 9. Work Performed by Seeing
H 10. Performed by Hearing/Speaking
RW 11. Work Performed by Reading and Writing
C 12. Communication
Code FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION
BL 1. Both legs affected but not arms
BA 2. Both arms affected
a. impaired Reach
b. weakness of Grip.
c. ataxic
BLA 3. Both legs and both arms affected.
OL 4. One leg affected (R or L)
a. impaired reach
b. weakness of grip
c. ataxic
OA 5. One arm affected (R or L)
a. impaired reach
b. weakness of grip
c. ataxic
OAL 6. One arm and one leg affected
MW 7. Muscular weakness.
B 8. Blind
LV 9. Low vision
H 10. Hearing Impaired (Partially Deaf)
LC 11. Leprosy cured
AAV 12. Acid Attack Victims
Note : The above list is subject to revision from time to time. - ELIBIBILITY FOR AVAILING RESERVATION :
(1) A candidate will be eligible to get the benefit of community reservation only in
case the particular caste to which the candidates belong is included in the list of
reserved communities issued by the Central Government.
(2) The OBC candidates applying for IFoS Exam, 2021 through CSE-2021 must
produce OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) certificate based on the income for the Financial
Year (FY) 2019-2020, 2018-19 and 2017-18.
(3) The candidate will be eligible to get the benefit of the Economically Weaker Section
reservation only in case the candidate meets the criteria issued by the Central
Government and is in possession of requisite Income & Asset Certificate based on the
income for Financial Year (FY) 2019-2020. - Candidates seeking reservation/relaxation benefits available for SC/ST/OBC/
EWS/PwBD/Ex-servicemen must ensure that they are entitled to such reservation/
relaxation as per eligibility prescribed in the Rules/Notice. They should also be in
possession of all the requisite certificates in the prescribed format in support of their
claim as stipulated in the Rules/Notice for such benefits, and these certificates should
be dated earlier than the due date (closing date) of the application of Indian Forest
Service (Preliminary) Examination, 2021 through Civil Services (Preliminary)
Examination, 2021.
The closing date fixed for the receipt of the application of Indian Forest Service
(Preliminary) Examination, 2021 through Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination –
2021 will be treated as the date for determining the OBC status (including that of
creamy layer) of the candidates. - CHANGE OF CATEGORY:
If a candidate indicates in his/her application form for Indian Forest Service
Examination through Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination that he/she belongs to
General category but subsequently writes to the Commission to change his/her
category to a reserved one, such request shall not be entertained by the Commission.
Further, once a candidate has chosen a reserved category, no request shall be
entertained for change to other reserved category viz. SC to ST, ST to SC, OBC to
SC/ST or SC/ST to OBC, SC to EWS, EWS to SC, ST to EWS, EWS to ST, OBC to
EWS, EWS to OBC. No reserved category candidates other than those recommended
on General Merit shall be allowed to change his/her category from Reserved to
Unreserved or claim the vacancies (Cadre) for UR category after the declaration of final
result by UPSC
Further no Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) candidate of any
subcategory thereunder shall be allowed to change his/her sub-category of disability.
While the above principle will be followed in general, there may be a few cases
where there was a gap not more than 3 months between the issuance of a
Government Notification enlisting a particular community in the list of any of the
reserved communities and the date of submission of the application by the candidate.
In such cases the request of change of community from General to Reserved may be
considered by the Commission on merit. In case of a candidate unfortunately
becoming person with benchmark disability during the course of the examination
process, the candidate should produce valid documents showing him/her acquiring a
disability to the extent of 40% or more as defined under the RPwD Act, 2016 to enable
him/her to get the benefits of reservation earmarked for persons with benchmark
disability provided he/she otherwise remains eligible for Indian Forest Service as per
Rule 19 of Indian Forest Service Examination. - Withdrawal of application : The Commission will provide a window of a specified
period for withdrawal of application for Indian Forest Service (Preliminary)
Examination through Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination after the closing date of
application. No request for withdrawal of candidature will, however, be entertained
after the expiry of the specified period by the Commission under any circumstances - Details about the scheme of examination, standard and syllabi of the subjects etc.
may be seen in Appendix-I of this Notice.
PLAN OF EXAMINATION
The competitive examination comprises two successive stages :
(i) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective Type) for the screening &
selection of candidates for Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination; and
(ii) Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the
selection of candidates against the vacancies identified and reported for the
Indian Forest Service Examination. - The preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of Objective type (multiple
choice questions) and carry a maximum of 400 marks in the subjects set out in subsection (A) of Section II. This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only;
the marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates who are
declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for
determining their final order of merit. The number of candidates to be admitted to the
Main Examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate
number of vacancies to be filled in the year through this examination. Only those
candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary
Examination in the year will be eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that
year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission, to the Main Examination.
Note I : Since there may be common candidates for Civil Services Examination and
the Indian Forest Service Examination, after the common Screening Test done
through Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, separate lists will be
prepared for the candidates eligible to appear in the Civil Service (Main)
Examination and Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination, based on the
criterion of minimum qualifying marks of 33% in General Studies Paper-II of
Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination and total qualifying marks of
General Studies Paper-I of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination as
determined by the Commission on the number of vacancies to be filled through
the Civil Services Examination and Indian Forest Service Examination.
Note II : There will be negative marking for incorrect answers as detailed below :-
(i) There are four alternatives for the answers to every question. For each question for
which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third of the marks
assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.
(ii) If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong answer
even if one of the given answers happen to be correct and there will be same penalty
as above for that question.
(iii) If a question is left blank i.e. no answer is given by the candidate, there will be no
penalty for that question.” - The Main Examination will consist of written examination and an interview test.
The written examination will consist of 6 papers of conventional essay type in the
subjects set out in sub-section (B) of Section II. Also see Note (ii) under para I of
Section II(B). - Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the written part of the
Main Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion, shall be
summoned by them for an interview for a Personality Test vide sub-section ‘C’ of
Section II. The number of candidates to be summoned for interview will be about twice
the number of vacancies to be filled.
The interview will carry 300 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks).
Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the Main Examination (written part as well
as interview) would determine their final ranking.
SECTION II
Scheme and subjects for the Preliminary and Main Examination.
A. PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION :
The Examination shall comprise of two compulsory Papers of 200 marks each.
Note :
(i) Both the question papers will be of the objective type (multiple choice questions).
ii) The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be
a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.
(iii) The question papers will be set both in Hindi and English.
(iv) Details of the syllabi are indicated in Part A of Section III.
B. MAIN EXAMINATION:
(A) The written examination consisting of the following papers:—
Paper I—General English 300 Marks
Paper II—General Knowledge 300 Marks
Papers III, IV, V and VI.—Any two subjects to be selected from the list of the optional
subjects set out in para 2 below. Each subject will have two papers.— 200 marks
for each paper.
Note : Answer scripts of only those candidates who have obtained the minimum
marks as decided by the Commission for Paper II (General Knowledge) will be
evaluated.
(B) Interview for Personality Test (See Part C of Section II of this Appendix) of such
candidates as may be called by the Commission—
Maximum Marks : 300 - List of optional subjects :
(i) Agriculture
(ii) Agricultural Engineering
(iii) Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
(iv) Botany
(v) Chemistry
(vi) Chemical Engineering
(vii) Civil Engineering
(viii) Forestry
(ix) Geology
(x) Mathematics
(xi) Mechanical Engineering
(xii) Physics
(xiii) Statistics
(xiv) Zoology
Provided that the candidates will not be allowed to offer the following combination of
subjects :
(a) Agriculture and Agricultural Engg.
(b) Agriculture and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science.
(c) Agriculture and Forestry.
(d) Chemistry and Chemical Engg.
(e) Mathematics and Statistics.
(f) Of the Engineering subjects viz. Agricultural Engineering, Chemical
Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering—not more
than one subject;
NOTE—The standard and syllabi of the subjects mentioned above are given in Section
III.
General Instructions (Main Examination) : - All the question papers for the examination will be of conventional (essay)
type. - ALL QUESTION PAPERS MUST BE ANSWERED IN ENGLISH. QUESTION
PAPERS WILL BE SET IN ENGLISH ONLY. - The duration of each of the papers referred to above will be three hours.
- The Commission have discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all the
papers of the examination. - If a candidate’s handwriting is not easily legible, deduction will be made
on this account from the total marks otherwise accruing to him/her. - Marks will not be allotted for mere superficial knowledge.
- Credit will be given for orderly, effective and exact expression combined
with due economy of words in all subjects of the examination. - In the question papers, wherever required, SI units will be used.
- Candidates should use only international form of Indian numerals (e.g. 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, etc.) while answering question papers. - Candidates will be allowed the use of Scientific (Non-programmable type)
calculators at the conventional type examinations of UPSC. Programmable type
calculators will however not be allowed and the use of such calculators shall
tantamount to resorting to unfair means by the candidates. Loaning and
interchanging of calculators in the Examination Hall is not permitted. It is also
important to note that candidates are not permitted to use calculators for
answering objective type papers (Test Booklets). They should not therefore
bring the same inside the Examination Hall. - Candidates should note that if any irrelevant matter/signages/marks etc.
are found written in the answer script(s), which would not be related to any
question/answer and/or would be having the potential to disclose the
candidate’s identity, the Commission will impose a penalty of deduction of
marks from the total marks otherwise accruing to the candidate or will not
evaluate the said script(s) on this account.
12(i). Candidates must write the papers in their own hand. In no circumstances
will they be allowed the help of a scribe to write the answers for them. The
Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the category of low vision, will be
provided the facility of scribe, if desired by the person. In case of other category
of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities as defined under section 2(r) of the
RPWD Act, 2016, the facility of scribe will be allowed to such candidates on
production of a certificate to the effect that the person concerned has physical
limitation to write, and scribe is essential to write examination on behalf, from
the Chief Medical Officer/Civil Surgeon/Medical Superintendent of a
Government Health Care institution as per proforma at Appendix – IV.
(ii) The candidates have discretion of opting for his/her own scribe or
request the Commission for the same. The details of scribe i.e. whether own or
the Commission’s and the details of scribe in case candidates are bringing their
own scribe, will be sought at the time of filling up the application form online.
(iii) The qualification of the Commission’s scribe as well as own scribe
will not be more than the minimum qualification criteria of the
examination. However, the qualification of the scribe should always be
matriculate or above.
(iv) The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the category of low-vision
will be allowed Compensatory Time of twenty minutes per hour of the
examination. In case of other categories of Persons with Benchmark
Disabilities, this facility will be provided on production of a certificate to the
effect that the person concerned has physical limitation to write from the Chief
Medical Officer/Civil Surgeon/Medical Superintendent of a Government Health
Care institution as per proforma at Appendix-IV.
Note (1) : The eligibility conditions of a scribe, his/her conduct inside the
examination hall and the manner in which and extent to which he/she can help the
Persons with Benchmark Disability candidate in writing the Indian Forest Service
Examination shall be governed by the instructions issued by the UPSC in this regard.
Violation of all or any of the said instructions shall entail the cancellation of the
candidature of the Persons with Benchmark Disability candidate in addition to any
other action that the UPSC may take against the scribe.
Note (2) : For purpose of these rules the candidate shall be deemed to be a Low
Vision candidate if the percentage of visual impairment is Forty per cent (40%) or
more. The criteria for determining the percentage of visual impairment shall be as
Note (3) : For availing of the concession admissible to a Low Vision candidate, the
candidate concerned shall produce a certificate in the prescribed proforma from a
Medical Board constituted by the Central/State Governments along with their
application for the Main Examination.
Note (4) : The concession admissible to Low Vision candidates shall not be admissible
to those suffering from Myopia.
(C) PERSONALITY TEST
The candidate will be interviewed by a Board of competent and unbiased observers
who will have before them a record of his/her career. The object of the Interview is to
assess the personal suitability of the candidate for the Service. The candidate will be
expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in his/her subjects of academic
study but also in events which are happening around him/her both within and
outside his/her own state or country, as well as in modem currents of thoughts and
in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of well educated youth. - The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross examination, but of a
natural, though directed and purposive conversation, intended to reveal mental
qualities of the candidate. The Board will pay special attention to assessing the
intellectual curiosity, critical powers of observation and assimilation, balance of
judgment and alertness of mind, initiative, tact, capacity for leadership; the ability for
social cohesion, mental and physical energy and powers of practical application;
integrity of character; and other qualities such as topographical sense, love for outdoor life and the desire to explore unknown and out of way places.·