The director of Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) Shashi Kumar has taken over charge as the Director-General of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) after repatriation of Ashwani Kumar to his parent cadre of Uttar Pradesh on June 25.
An Indian Forest Service officer of the 1980 batch of AGMUT cadre, Shashi Kumar has till now held various important positions throughout India including that of the principal chief conservator of forests in the government of Arunachal Pradesh, PCCF wildlife and secretary (Science & Technology), Government of Andaman and Nicobar, the managing director of the Goa Forest Development Corporation and the deputy director general of Forest Survey of India among others. In the ICFRE, he has spent a period of about eight years in various positions including that of the director of Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Dehradun and the deputy director general (Research) and the director (Research) of the council.
He has also had more than 30 research papers published in various national and international journals. He has also been awarded the SK Seth memorial prize for his outstanding contributions. After assuming charge as the ICFRE director general, Kumar had a detailed discussion with the FRI director Savita and officials of the council who briefed him on various ongoing and completed research and development programmes of ICFRE being carried out through its nine institutes and five centres situated across the country. The DG also met representatives of the Forest Scientists’ Association (FoSA) and assured them of full cooperation in the varied pending issues including those related to HRD, pension and medical facility. Kumar also met the representatives of the Technical Staff Association (TSA) and assured them of the implementation of technical services in ICFRE soon, as approved by the Government of India. He spoke of working in close coordination in order to further enhance the outcome of the research and development activities undertaken by the council and its institutes for public welfare.