The long-pending demand that a degree in forestry sciences should be prescribed as the minimum qualification to fill posts of Assistant Conservator of Forests, Range Forest Officer, and Assistant Range Forest Officer has gained steam now with over 500 students of all the three forestry sciences colleges of the State set to stage a protest in Bengaluru on Monday in this regard.
The Bengaluru protest of the forestry sciences graduates has come after their protest for some time on the campuses of the three forestry colleges at Ponnampet, Sirsi, and Iruvakki.
The students and graduates of the forestry sciences colleges are upset that though they study a professional course related to forestry management for four years, the government is allowing graduates from other streams who do not have any knowledge about forest management to occupy these field posts.
A former dean of a forestry college explained that the State introduced the system of reserving 50% of these jobs to the forestry sciences graduates in 2003. The reservation for these graduates for the RFO posts was increased to 75% in 2012 as the government felt that they were ideal to handle the responsibilities associated with the post, he noted.
However, the reservation for the RFO posts for forestry sciences graduates was reduced to 50% in 2018. This caused anxiety among the graduates of these courses, who have been running from pillar to post since then, seeking restoration of the earlier system.
However, now they have stuck to their old demand that the three posts in the Forest Department should be earmarked to them on the lines of the Agricultural Department earmarking certain posts for the graduates of agricultural courses.
The former dean justified such a demand by observing that generally, those who get admission for the forestry courses are meritorious students with good ranks in the CET with the purpose of serving in the Forest Department.
Meanwhile, the protesting students and graduates of forestry sciences colleges have met various people’s representatives, cutting across political affiliations seeking their help.
The Vice-Chancellors of the two universities concerned have even met the Forest Minister to press for their demands and also petitioned the Chief Minister at his Jana Spandana programme.
