New Delhi: Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister, Bhupender Yadav on Monday said that the forest officers, as the voice of the voiceless, need to work with an approach that is earnestly humane and sensitive to the aspirations and needs of the local community.
Virtually addressing the 64 Indian Forest Service (IFoS) probationer trainees of the 2020 batch at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun, he said that India is aspiring for transformative advancement on all fronts of development while simultaneously dealing with challenges and crisis on different environmental frontiers and their manifestations viz. climate change, land degradation, pollution, and biodiversity loss. “Hence your role in the present era becomes even more important in taking forward and practicing sustainable development,” he said.
The Environment Minister highlighted the commitments and targets for carbon sequestration, zero-carbon emission dateline, proportion of solar power and other environmentally efficient sources in energy mix, conservation of biodiversity, combating desertification and restoration of degraded land etc. and asked the officers to come forward with creative and innovative ideas to achieve them, a Ministry release said.
He reiterated, that as empowered, capable, and competent workforce of the government system, the young IFoS officers have also to be pro-actively community-centric/citizen oriented and facilitator in approach in dealing with the community in forest landscapes in their jurisdiction, and also other citizens.
The probationers were also addressed by Minister of State Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who said that there are many areas of interaction with the community residing in forest landscapes and other people, where an empathetic, responsive, facilitation approach has to be mainstay of the conduct and functional discharge of duties. “This whole process requires utmost sincerity and citizen centric approach with a humane approach,” Choubey said.
The probationers were also given best wishes by Secretary, Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Leela Nandan and DG, Forest and Special Secretary, C.P. Goyal.
(IANS)
