New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) Forest officers must be the voice of the voiceless and perform their duties as trustees and not owners of the country’s natural resources, Union Minister for Environment and Forest Bhupender Yadav said on Monday.
Addressing the trainee probation officers of the Indian Forest Service (IFS), the minister also said that forest officers should accept the local communities living in forests as partners in their efforts to protect and conserve the forest cover and its flora and fauna, and refrain from working with a “feudal approach”.
“The IFS officers have to be the voice of the voiceless. Who are these voiceless? They are our wildlife, forests, rivers, and trees. You have to be their voice. And for their protection and conservation, you have to work,” Yadav said.
“While doing all this, you must take local communities along with you. They are the partners in your conservation efforts,” he said.
Yadav explained that forest officers, as a competent, empowered and competent workforce within the government system, must be proactive in their approach and be citizen-oriented and facilitators with the community while dealing in the forest landscapes within their jurisdiction.
Forest officers must work with an approach that is “earnestly humane” and sensitive to the “aspirations and needs” of the local community, he stressed.
The minister was addressing 64 IFS probationer students of the 2020 batch, who are currently being trained at the Indira Gand National Forest Academy in Dehradun.
Noting that most of these probationers come from an engineering background, Yadav said, “I congratulate you and it is a matter of concern to me as well. You will have to rise above your engineering attitude.” “You are not just an engineer. As IFS officers you are wildlife protectors and law enforcers as well as forest managers, administrators, scientists, and administrators. All of these traits will be part of your personality. To be effective in your job, you will have to acquire these new skills and knowledge, going beyond your educational background,” he said.
“You have become an officer and completed (your) training. It’s good, not enough,” he added.
Minister Narendra Modi stated that the country is striving to achieve transformative progress on all fronts while simultaneously addressing the challenges and crises posed by various environmental frontiers such as climate change and land degradation.
According to him, this makes the role of forest officials in the current era even more crucial and important in advancing and practising sustainable growth.
Yadav reiterated India’s commitments and targets for carbon sequestration, zero-carbon emission dateline, proportion of solar power and other environmentally efficient sources in energy mix, conservation of biodiversity, combating desertification and restoration of degraded land and asked the officers to come forward with creative and innovative ideas to achieve them.
Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, addressed the officers. She stated that there are many areas of interaction between communities living in forest landscapes and other people. This is where an empathetic, responsive, facilitation approach must be the foundation of conduct and functional discharges of duties for IFS officers.
The entire process requires “utmost sincerity and a citizen-centric approach with a humane approach”, he said. PTI PK DIV DIVIS
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