A small time farmer’s son hailing from a remote village in Karur district has cleared the Indian Forest Service (IFS) examination.

The UPSC has declared the final results of IFS 2016, for which main examinations were held in November 2016 and the personality test in February -March 2017.

Interestingly, twenty five year old K.Sasigananathan, who was a student of Forest College and Research Institute in Mettupalayam, where he has done his B.Sc in Forestry. He later joined Forest Research Institute, in Dehradun, to pursue his Masters in Environmental Management.

Speaking to Covai post from his remote village, Sasigananathan said that his alma mater in Mettupalayam is where he has got the inspiration to write the IFS. “Forest College and Research centre, Mettupalayam   has produced about 120 IFS officers so far. I got my inspiration to appear for IFS from my college seniors who have guided me on all aspects of how meticulous and methodical preparation should be carried out for to clear the three stages — the preliminary, mains, and the personality test.

“IFS is more competitive than other  civil services  as over a lakh of people compete out of which a merely a hundred odd  get through final barrier, which is the oral interview”.

‘My perseverance paid at last. Though I have not been able to clear the main exams in the last three attempts, I somehow cleared the fourth time. I am waiting for the two -year training, which would commence in September, after which we will be posted as Asst. conservator of Forests.” Sasigananathan said.

When asked as to how he has planned to contribute his mite to environmental protection, Sasigananathan said ” I would say Remote sensing, as a modern scientific tool, should be leveraged to preserve and regenerate new forests and for the various challenges faced in wildlife management, including the mitigation of man- animal conflict, so that they can addressed more effectively.”

“Meticulous preparation combined with never -say- die, attitude is what is needed to get through all civil services including Indian Forest Service. More number of rural students should come forward to appear for all India examinations ” Sasigananathan said.