Union Public Service Commission releases the Indian Forest Service recruitment notification along with other civil service examinations every year. This exam comes under All India Services which is the most prestigious service in India. India is largely a forested country with many diversities in flora and fauna as well as aquatic life forms. The aim of an IFS officer is to safeguard the wildlife and conservation of forests and other natural resources. Sometimes IFS is also referred to as IFoS and can be confused with the Indian Foreign Services (IFS) as the same abbreviation is given to that service as well. In this article, we will discuss UPSC IFS 2025 application form, notification, registration, recruitment, eligibility, etc.

UPSC IFS 2025 Eligibility Criteria

The following are the eligibility criteria for the UPSC IFS examination-

• The candidate must be a citizen of India or a subject of Nepal, Bhutan or a Tibetan refugee or person of Indian origin (PIO)
• The candidate’s age must be in between 21-32 years of age, however, there are some relaxation provided to the candidates belonging to the categories-

Category	Upper Age Limit for UPSC	Maximum Number of Attempts
General	32	6
Economically Weaker Section (EWS)	32	6
OBC	35	9
SC/ST	37	Unlimited (Up to age limit)
Defence Services Personnel	35	9
Persons with Benchmark Disability	35	9

• The candidates must hold a valid graduation degree from a recognized university

UPSC IFS 2025 Important Dates

Events	Important Dates
Release of Notification of UPSC IFoS	February 2025
Release of UPSC IFoS Application Form	February 2025
Release of UPSC IFoS Online Application Withdrawal link	To be Announced
Release of UPSC IFoS Admit Card	To be Announced
UPSC IFoS Prelims Exam Date	June 2025
Release of UPSC IFoS Prelims Result	To be Announced
UPSC IFoS Mains Exam Date	November 2025
Release of UPSC IFoS Mains Result	To be Announced
Release of UPSC IFoS Final Merit List	To be Announced

UPSC IFS Salary and Benefits

Indian Foreign Services is the most prestigious service in India with many perks and benefits. It is a topmost administrative job in the country with the following salary packages along with the post-

Job Profile	Annual pay package
Assistant Inspector General of Forest	Rs.10,00,000/-
Deputy Inspector General of Forest (Deputy Conservator of Forest)	Rs.12,00,000/-
Inspector General of Forest (Chief Conservator of Forest)	Rs.13,00,000/-
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest	Rs.14,00,000/-
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest	Rs.15,00,000/-

UPSC IFS 2025 Application Form

Every candidate has to go through the Civils Services Examination to become an IFS officer. Every Civil Servant selection process begins with the Preliminary Examination and the candidates who have passed the civil service preliminary examination are eligible to apply for IFS Examination or other civil services examination. The following are the step by step instructions on who to apply for the UPSC IFS examination-

• Visit the official website of UPSC and click on the active examination tab
• Now, navigate to the UPSC Civil Service Examination 2025 link and click on it
• After clicking on the link, an application form will appear which you’ll have to fill
• After filling the application form, your request will be processed and you will be provided with an ID and password on your email
• Now, login into your account using the login credential
• You’ll be redirected to further fill the application form with details like education qualification, etc.
• After completing the application form, you’ll have to upload the documents mentioned below followed by paying the application fee (if any)
• Make sure to take a printout of the application form and payment receipt for the future use

Documents Required for UPSC IFS

The following are the documents required for UPSC Civil Services Examination-

• A scanned photograph of yourself
• A scanned signature of yourself
• Government-issued Photo-id card like- Aadhaar Card/Voter Card/PAN Card/Passport/Driving Licence/Any other Photo ID Card issued by the State/Central Government
• Graduation Passing Certificate/Marks Sheet

Application fee for UPSC IFS

The following are the application fee for the UPSC IFS examination-

Category	Fee
General and OBC	Rs.100/-
SC/ST and Female	Exempted

UPSC IFS Examination Pattern

The Civil Service examination is divided into three stages- Preliminary, Mains, and Interview. Each stage evaluates a candidate based on certain marks and the candidate must pass the examination to move on to the next stage. The following are the examination pattern for UPSC IFS Examination-

Preliminary Examination

Paper	Subjects	Maximum Marks	Time Duration
Paper 1	General Studies	200	2 hours
Paper 2	Civil Services Aptitude Test	200	2 hours

Mains Examination

Paper	Subject	Marks
Paper-I	Essay (can be written in the medium of the candidate’s choice)	250
Paper-II	General Studies – I (Indian Heritage & Culture, History & Geography of the World & Society)	250
Paper-III	General Studies – II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice & International Relations)	250
Paper-IV	General Studies – III (Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Security & Disaster Management)	250
Paper-V	General Studies – IV (Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude)	250
Paper-VI	Optional Subject – Paper I	250
Paper-VII	Optional Subject – Paper II	250

Interview

In the interview round, the candidates will be evaluated based on personality and knowledge. The candidates have to fill a DAF form and that form will provide the interviewers to get to know you better most of the questions are based on your DAF only therefore, it is a very important form that you’ll have to fill carefully. The interview round is 275 marks.

UPSC IFS Syllabus

The following are the syllabus for UPSC Civil Services Examination or IFS, IAS examination syllabus-

English Language

• Comprehension of given passages
• Precis Writing
• Usage and Vocabulary
• Short Essays

Indian Languages:

• Comprehension of given passages
• Precis Writing
• Usage and Vocabulary
• Short Essays
• Translation from English to the Indian Language and vice-versa

Paper-I: Essay

• The Candidates are required to write essays on multiple topics

Paper-II: General Studies-I

• Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times
• Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues
• The Freedom Struggle — its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country
• Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country
• History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.— their forms and effect on the society
• Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India
• Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies
• Effects of globalization on Indian society
• Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism
• Salient features of world’s physical geography
• Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India)
• Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes

Paper-III: General Studies-II

• Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure
• Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein
• Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions
• Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries
• Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these
• Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity
• Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act
• Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies
• Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies
• Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation
• Development processes and the development industry —the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders
• Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections
• Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
• Issues relating to poverty and hunger
• Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures
• Role of civil services in a democracy
• India and its neighbourhood- relations
• Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
• Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora
• Important International institutions, agencies and fora – their structure, mandate

Paper-IV: General Studies-III

• Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
• Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
• Government Budgeting.
• Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, – different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.
• Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System-objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
• Food processing and related industries in India- scope’ and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
• Land reforms in India.
• Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
• Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
• Investment models.
• Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
• Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
• Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, Nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
• Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
• Disaster and disaster management.
• Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
• Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
• Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.
• Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
• Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

Paper-V: General Studies-IV

• Ethics and Human Interface
• Attitude- Moral and political, behaviour, social influence and persuasion
• Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service, integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker-sections
• Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance
• Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world
• Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration
• Probity in Governance
• Concept of public service
• Codes of Ethics
• Codes of Conduct
• Citizen’s Charters
• Case Studies on above issues

Paper – VI & VII

The following are the subjects that the candidate can opt from. Paper VI and VII will be is the options subject examination that every candidate must choose for participating in the mains examination-

• Agriculture
• Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
• Anthropology
• Botany
• Chemistry
• Civil Engineering
• Commerce and Accountancy
• Economics
• Electrical Engineering
• Geography
• Geology
• History
• Law
• Management
• Mathematics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Medical Science
• Philosophy
• Physics
• Political Science and International Relations
• Psychology
• Public Administration
• Sociology
• Statistics
• Zoology
• Literature of any one of the following languages:
  • Assamese
  • Bengali
  • Bodo
  • Dogri
  • Gujarati
  • Hindi
  • Kannada
  • Kashmiri
  • Konkani
  • Maithili
  • Malayalam
  • Manipuri
  • Marathi
  • Nepali
  • Odia
  • Punjabi
  • Sanskrit
  • Santhali
  • Sindhi
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Urdu
  • English

Each Optional Subject has 2 compulsory papers.

UPSC IFS Admit Card 2025

The admit card for UPSC Civil Services examination is not yet released, we will update the admit card status once the examination admit card is released by the UPSC.

UPSC IFS Examination Result 2025

The result for UPSC Civil Services examination is not yet released, we will update the result once the examination result is released by the UPSC.

UPSC IFS Examination Centre

The following are the examination centre for UPSC Civil Service Examination-

City	City
Agartala	Agra
Ajmer	Ahmedabad
Aizawl	Aligarh
Anantapur	Bhopal
Bilaspur	Bangalore
Bareilly	Chandigarh
Chennai	Coimbatore
Cuttack	Dehradun
Dehradun	Delhi
Dharwad	Dispur
Faridabad	Gangtok
Gaya	Ghaziabad
Gorakhpur	Gurugram
Gwalior	Hyderabad
Imphal	Indore
Jabalpur	Jaipur
Jammu	Jodhpur
Jorhat	Kochi
Kohima	Kozhikode
Madurai	Mumbai
Nagpur	Navi Mumbai
Patna	Prayagraj
Port Blair	Patna
Puducherry	Pune
Raipur	Rajkot
Ranchi	Sambalpur
Shillong	Shimla
Siliguri	Srinagar
Thane	Thiruvananthapuram
Tiruchirapalli	Tirupati
Udaipur	Varanasi
Vellore	Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam	Warangal

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