By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 16 Jul: Central Academy for State Forest Service (CASFOS), Dehradun, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, organised the convocation ceremony of the 36th State Forest Service Induction Course (2022-24) that completed its two-year Induction Training today.
A total of 69 Officer Trainees were sponsored by various states in the above batch which included Maharashtra-24, Odisha-23, Bihar-7, Himachal Pradesh-5, Tripura-6, Uttarakhand-3, and Uttar Pradesh-1. A total of 18 women Officer Trainees received training in this batch.
On this occasion, Siddhanta Das, Chairman, Central Empowered Committee (CEC), was the Chief Guest. Dr Jagmohan Sharma, Director, IGNFA, Kanchan Devi, DG, ICFRE, Dehradun, Dr Renu Singh, Director, FRI, Dehradun, Meenakshi Joshi, I/C Director, Directorate of Forest Education, Principal, Central Academy for State Forest Service, Dehradun, all faculty members and other serving and retired officers attended the convocation ceremony.
Meenakshi Joshi, in her address, informed the gathering about the training programme. She mentioned that the 2 year training involved 20 months of theoretical and practical training and 4 months of On the Job Training (OJT).
Special Guest Dr Jagmohan Sharma expressed his contentment at the completion of training by all the 69 Officers Trainees. Lauding the increased induction of women officers and staff in the forest services, he expressed his pride in the growing diversity at the workplace. He further emphasised the critical role that the new officers will play as “Forest and Environment Warriors” in achieving the aspirations of Viksit Bharat @2047, targets set under the conventions on Climate Change, Combating Desertification and Biodiversity.
Siddhanta Das, in his Convocation Address, congratulated the new officers on completion of their training. Citing from his own memoir, “By the Grace of God”, he highlighted the multifaceted qualities required to be able Forest Officers. He spoke about the significance of exercising not only Intelligent Quotient but also Emotional Quotient while working for the services. He further emphasised how diverse aspects – Social Quotient, Adversity Quotient and Spiritual Quotient – contribute to the holistic development of an individual, preparing them to face the challenges of forest management with wisdom, empathy, resilience and a strong ethical foundation.
On this occasion, Siddhanta Das also released 4 publications: Safarnama, Darmiyaan, Insecta and Learnings from the Field.
On this occasion, all 69 officer trainees who passed out were conferred diplomas by Siddhanta Das. The Gold Medal for overall excellence was awarded to Dr Satyajeet Kar from Odisha.
