54 IFS officers, 4 Bhutanese forest officers pass out from IGNFA

Dehra Dun, Aug 20 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Sevugan Regupathy gave away the prizes and awards to outgoing officers of the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA).

In all, 54 Indian Forest Service officers and four trainees from Bhutan belonging to 2004-07 and 2005-07 batches passed out from IGNFA here today.

While Mr H V Girisha of Uttar Pradesh cadre topped the 2004-07 batch securing 79.41 per cent, Neha Gupta of Uttarakhand cadre topped 2005-07 batch with 77.87 per cent marks in aggregate.

Addressing the 36th Convocation, Mr Regupathy said as there was availability of only 0.08 hectare forest area per person in India against the world average of 0.64 hectare, the conservation and protection of Indian forests would have to be dovetailed with imperatives of increasing the productivity of forests.

''The National Forest Policy aimed at 33 per cent of the entire landmass of the country under forest tree cover, on the other hand, FSI's Forest Report indicated the presence of forest and tree cover as 23.68 per cent of total geographical area. It is high time that the sound technical knowledge is put to service in greening of India,'' Mr Regupathy asserted.

He also pointed out the symbolic association of man and forests deeply embedded in religious and socio-cultural mindset of the countrymen was getting disturbed due to the increasing demand on natural resources. Therefore, it was necessary to maintain the fragile balance between development and conservation.

He advocated that great strides that has been taken in the sphere of information technology, biotechnology and remote sensing could be used as a set of handy tools in ensuring better management of forest wealth.

Congratulating the new IFS officers and wishing them successful careers, Mr Regupathy said the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act, which was a recognition of the forest rights and occupation of these forest dwellers was a challenge for the IFS officers.

Present on the occasion were Mr J P L Srivastava, Director General of Forest and Special Secretary to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Additional Director General of Forest G K Prasad, Ministry of Environment and Forests Director IGNFA R K Goel.

UNI