by Tanveer Ahmad Rather
The government appears indifferent, or perhaps the Forest Department itself is reluctant to allow qualified youth into the system.
Forestry graduates in Jammu and Kashmir have appealed to the Forest Department to revise its recruitment rules. They stress that a B.Sc. in Forestry, a highly technical degree accredited by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and recognised by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, ought to be the minimum qualification for forester and related posts.
These graduates argue that recent amendments and proposed rules, including those introduced under SRO-241 and SRO-335 (1991), diminish the value of specialised forestry training by permitting candidates with only 10+2 qualifications or general undergraduate degrees to fill posts that demand technical expertise in forest management, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience. Despite completing a rigorous curriculum, including extended fieldwork and a year of rural experiential learning, many remain unemployed.
Even after a year under the National Conference government, there appears to be no progress for jobless youth. The issue is ignored not only by political leaders but also by journalists. If the matter had been raised in a viral video, it might have received attention within seconds.
Last week, when the matriculation results were declared, social media platforms were awash with screenshots boasting scores of 450 or 470. Yet no one seemed to consider what lies ahead for those children. Of the 60,000 students who passed, not all can become doctors. Many will have to choose other fields. When our turn came, we too scored well and sat for the Jammu and Kashmir Common Entrance Test. A narrow margin kept us from securing MBBS seats. We turned to professional courses in institutions like SKUAST.
At that time, the gap between selected candidates at SKUAST and Government Medical College was often no more than five or ten points. Owing to limited intake, every graduate once found timely employment. I enrolled in the B.Sc. Forestry programme at SKUAST, motivated by a desire to serve in the Forest Department. Over time, I came to believe I had chosen the wrong path. However, I soon realised the situation was no different for others. Whether one pursued engineering or any other professional course, many have remained jobless for years.
Unfilled Posts and Obsolete Rules
If vacancies exist in the Forest Department, the question arises: where are those posts going? In most forest ranges, one finds in-charge Range Officers who have occupied these positions for five to ten years. Despite pursuing a professional and highly technical forestry education from bachelor’s to doctorate level over a span of eleven years, graduates are not being offered opportunities within the department.
The recruitment rules have remained unchanged for over thirty years. Throughout the duration of our studies, not a single forester post was advertised. In 2010, two hundred and fifty forester positions were announced, but they remain unfilled. The reason lies in the outdated recruitment policy. Although the position is equivalent to that of a Sub-Inspector in the police, the eligibility remains set at the 10+2 level.
In other departments, recruitment is aligned with specialised qualifications. Junior Engineers are required to hold a B.Tech. degree. Junior Agriculture Extension Officers must possess a B.Sc. in Agriculture. Deputy Inspector Fisheries posts are reserved for those with a Bachelor’s in Fisheries Science. Even Finance Accounts Assistant posts have a defined syllabus that includes thirty marks in Accountancy.
Excluded from Their Own Department
Posts in agriculture, horticulture and sericulture are reserved exclusively for students with relevant degrees. Why then are positions in the Forest Department open to all? Forestry technocrats are being sidelined within the very department their training was meant to serve. There is a sense of being treated as outsiders. The question remains why the department refuses to acknowledge those it was designed to accommodate, especially when the forestry degree was introduced at SKUAST in the 1980s following consultations with experts and stakeholders.
The department comprises around nine wings, covering both gazetted posts such as Assistant Conservator of Forest (Territorial and Wildlife), Assistant Director Forest Protection, Scientific Assistant, Range Officer (Territorial and Wildlife), Soil Conservation Assistant, and non-gazetted posts including Forester, Forest Inspector, Social Forestry Worker, Forest Guard, Field Inspector and Field Assistant. Among these, only the Range Officer position mandates a B.Sc. in Forestry. Yet even this role has been turned into a three-tier examination modelled on the Union Public Service Commission, despite being classified as a Level 6E post. In contrast, higher-ranking Level 9 posts in other departments require only a single-tier objective-type test. Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Horticulture Development Officer and Sericulture Development Officer posts all follow this simpler format.
A collective appeal is being made to the present Jammu and Kashmir administration and the Forest Department. Over nine hundred and thirty students with doctoral, postgraduate and graduate degrees in Forestry are grappling with stress and despair. With their qualifications in hand, they move from office to office, unable to secure employment. Either meaningful steps must be taken to address this situation, or the degree should be declared invalid to prevent more students from facing the same fate. The department must revise its outdated recruitment rules, now over thirty years old, and formulate specific provisions for the appointment of forestry technocrats.
Decade of Delays
Since 2010, the case concerning the Forester posts remain pending in the High Court without a single hearing. The government appears indifferent, or perhaps the Forest Department itself is reluctant to allow qualified youth into the system.
This pattern extends to nearly every recruitment drive. Posts are advertised with claims of large-scale hiring, but appointments are often delayed by two decades. By then, the original candidates have crossed the age limit. For five consecutive years, appeals have been made to the government to announce vacancies, yet those calls have been ignored. If 250 Forester posts are under a court stay, the silence surrounding the 55 Forest Inspector posts advertised in 2022 is even more troubling. Nothing has moved. The 15 vacant Range Officer positions from 2019 also remain unadvertised.
Last year and again this year, memorandums were submitted to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, the Commissioner Secretary of Forests, the Honourable Forest Minister and the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir. No encouraging reply has been received to date.
An appeal is once again being directed to the Honourable Chief Minister, the concerned ministers and all political representatives. The number of unemployed qualified youth is growing rapidly. There is a pressing need for mass recruitment within a defined timeline. Without such action, those burdened by frustration and depression will continue to place emotional and financial strain on their families.
(The author is a PhD scholar in Forestry. Ideas are personal.)
