Punjab recruits 42 women as forest guards

[Mrudul Godbole]

Punjab recruits 42 women as forest guards
Posted: Apr 23, 2012 at 0044 hrs IST

Chandigarh In a move to empower the fairer sex, the Punjab government for the first time, has recruited 42 women as forest guards in the Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation. At present state has four women Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers and one range officer.
Talking with Indian Express Principal Chief Conservator Forest, Punjab, HS Gujral said, “Out of the 188 new guards recruited, 42 are women. The posts required Class XII as basic educational qualification but most of the 30,000 applicants for the 188 posts were post-graduates, some even PhDs. The department aiming to involve people and government institutions in management, conservation and development of forests. The women guards would be utilized in extension activities besides regular activities.”
With their recruitment there are now 600 forest guards, he said adding that another 220 guards would be recruited soon.

The women guards, aged between 18 and 37 years, were selected after a tough physical test where they had to run for 13 kilometers at a stretch.

Appointed in the pay scale of Rs 10,300-plus Rs 3,200-grade pay, the new forest guards would undergo a special one-month induction course at the Police Training Academy in Jahan Khelan. Later, they will undergo three-month regular training course at Forest Academy, Hoshiarpur.

The Department of Forests and Wildlife Protection has always faced a staff crunch. At the Faridkot division, half of the posts are lying vacant. Owing to the shortage in staff, the department finds it hard to keep a check on illegal cutting of trees and grazing by cattle. Twenty-eight out of 67 sanctioned posts of forest guards in Faridkot forest division are vacant. Also, only two forest rangers are currently working against the sanctioned strength of 7.

It is not only Punjab, of the 307 forest guards recruited through special camps in Gujarat some time back 51 were women. Also, out of 180 foresters recruited at four zonal camps held last year in Surat, Junagadh, Vadodara and Gandhinagar at least 44 were women.

The field studies have shown that women as field staff and officers in forest departments help improve interface with village women in micro-planning and forest management.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good move for gender equality. In Punjab, women folk do lot of physical labour. So it doesn't come as a surprise that they can easily run 13kms (I am sure they can outrun many of our wildlife photographers).