M.Phil 2018-19

Introduction

The Indian Institute of Forest Management is a sectoral management institute, which constantly endeavors to evolve knowledge useful for managers in the areas of Forest, Environment, Natural Resources Management and allied sectors. It disseminates such knowledge in ways that promote its application by individuals and organizations.

Natural Resource Management (NRM) is a dynamic process as it is intertwined with changing social, cultural, economic, and ecological factors at the local level. Further in the era of globalization, many of the management issues are not only influenced by local governance but also by national and international governance/treaties/conventions. It is therefore important that professionals working in this sector are trained in a way that they can contribute in managing the resource in a comprehensive way. India being one of the responsible nations and signatory to many international treaties related to natural resource management and allied sector, has to constantly upgrade its professionals engaged in NRM to equip them with skills and knowledge in order to manage its rich natural resources effectively. Realizing the need of specific skills and knowledge, the institute has designed one year M.Phil in Natural Resource Management with a focus to acquire conceptual and analytical abilities in relation to the field realities, required for managing natural resources effectively. The course lays emphasis on self-growth through seminars, fieldwork, case studies, and class room discussions.

The programme is affiliated to Saurashtra University, Rajkot, Gujarat. The degree shall be granted by the Faculty of Science, Saurashtra University, Rajkot and the course will be conducted by IIFM at the Institute’s campus in Bhopal.

Global relevance of the Programme

Economist Erich W. Zimmermann stated in the 1930s, "Resources are not; they become." Zimmermann was asserting that resources are not fixed things that merely exist, but that their meaning and value emerge as humans appraise their worth and develop the technical and scientific knowledge to transform them into useful commodities. Natural resources have always been exploited by the human beings all over the world in the name of development, Self protection and consumption. This self centric attitude has resulted into extinction of many natural resources and depletion in appropriate level of many resources. This has resulted in the imbalance in the proportion of natural resources that should be present to keep the planet a safe place for the survival of man, animal & plants. Observing the negative changes in the earth that are threatening the survival, individuals, organizations, civil society and governments have started considering protection of environment as one of the top priorities. To restore the ecological balance activities are going on at global, national & local levels, looking into social, political, and ecological factors that are responsible for degradation and preventive mechanism. Emphasis is finding out ways of economic development without hurting nature. Thus, the Natural resource management/ sustainable management has acquired a very important area for research and action globally.

Therefore to contribute to this globally recognized issue, IIFM being a specialized institute has started an M.Phil level course to create future global leaders to fight this universal battle by creating a broad understanding of the interconnectedness of systems. In this course an integrative approach is used where students will learn how to develop local solutions that are sustainable, ethical and scalable at global level

Eligibility

The minimum qualification for all candidates shall be Post Graduate degree/diploma in the field of Science/Engineering/ Management and related Social sciences. (The equivalence will be decided by the Institute) or its equivalent with a minimum of 55% aggregate marks recognized by an Indian University or Association of Indian Universities (AIU). The relaxation of 5% marks at the Masters Degree (P.G) eligibility criterion shall be given to candidates belonging to SC/ST/DA category as per the guidelines of UGC.

For in-service category, Officers from Indian Forest Service, State Forest Services, Group ‘A’ Officers or equivalent from Govt. Departments/Public Sector and representatives from NGOs with minimum three years of experience in the fields related to natural resource management can apply.

Admission Procedure

Interested candidates are required to submit their applications in the prescribed application form with all supporting documents.

For open category candidates written test and an interview shall be conducted. The written test shall have three components namely English ability, Analytical ability and Natural Resource Management aptitude. The Institute shall set a cutoff limit for the written examination. Candidates qualifying the written test shall be invited for the interview. Based on the performance in the interview a merit list of suitable candidates will be released for admission. The UGC/CSIR/ICAR- NET qualified candidates and candidates with PGDFM from IIFM with a minimum of 3.0 OGPA shall be exempted from written test and shall be directly called for interview.

In-service category candidates are required to send their application through proper channel which will be screened at IIFM using criteria set by the institute to select candidates for the course. The nominated in-service candidates shall be exempted from written test.

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