Kanchan Devi, a 1991 batch Indian Forest Service officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as the director general of Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) Dehradun. She is the first lady IFS officer to hold this prestigious position. Devi has more than 30 years of professional experience in different areas of forestry, including forest management, forest administration, education, HRD and research and extension in the state of Madhya Pradesh and Government of India including as a faculty member at Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun.During her service tenure, she worked for upliftment of rural communities by implementing, analysing and recommending updation of existing forest policies etc.
She has been serving in ICFRE as deputy director general (Education) for the last four years and has been instrumental in promoting forestry education in the country, accrediting forestry courses, conducting forest policy research studies, human resource development, recruiting and promoting scientists and technical officers of ICFRE. She played an important role in the establishment of the Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Land Management (CoE-SLM) and implementation of the World Bank funded Ecosystem Services Improvement Project (ESIP) at ICFRE.
