I have read about so many of India’s beautiful national parks! Is there a government department in charge of managing them all? Are there national park rangers assigned to patrol and protect each of the parks?
Yes national parks come under the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Wildlife and forests conservation is a part of the concurrent list, which means that the Union government is the one making the laws and regulations regarding it, and the individual states are the ones responsible for implementing these regulations. A special board named as the National Board for Wildlife chaired by the Prime Minister has framed the National Wildlife Action Plan in 2002, till 2016.
Hello, @Tamboa! The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change handles all issues regarding national parks and sanctuaries in India. Basically, they are in charge of: Planning the Programs for the National Parks Promoting the Programs of the National Parks Coordinating with other Councils and Agencies for the Good of the Parks Implementing Programs that Will Benefit the Parks Certain activities like surveying and studying the flora and fauna of the forests in India are done by the MOEFCC. Additionally, conservation programs like afforestation and land degradation mitigation are handled by this department. Under the MOEFCC, there are divisions as well like: Animal Welfare Climate Change Division Environment Education Forest Policy Forest Protection Project Elephant Project Tiger The environment ministers of India have changed all these years. Right now, the environment minister is Anil Madhav Dave. Each state has their own Department of Environment and Forests which are all under the MOEFCC. Different national parks have their own tour guides, patrols and rangers. But there's also the Indian Forest Service (IFoS) which belongs to the All Indian Service group, along with IAS and IPS. The IFoS was established in the year 1966. The IFoS is also under the management of the MOEFCC. Before one can become an IFoS officer, they must go through a rigorous process: Foundation Course Professional Phase I Professional Phase II Convocation Phase So first they have to attend the common foundation course at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. They will then be transferred to the Indhira Gandhi National Forest Academy (Dehradun), from which they will be trained for management of forest and wildlife, surveying, handling weapons and scheduled tribes. They will then be awarded a master's degree in Science Forestry at the Forest Research Institute. After training is completed, they will have an on-the-job training for a year. This job would be at the state they were assigned to. They will work as Assistant Conservators of Forests or Deputy Conservator of Forests. After four years of service, they can then be promoted to Divisional Forest Officers where they handle districts or forest divisions. The range of jobs of an IFoS vary: Handling human conflict within the reserves Marking of trees in the jungle Protect the forests and animals from poachers Conducting of surveys about the flora and fauna of the forests Protect the humans from the wild animals I hope this helps!
