KOCHI: A lot is happening in the tribal belts of the state. It would come as a surprise to everyone that thanks to the efforts of the tribal special officers under the tribal special projects are doing wonders. One such initiative that has paid off is the one launched by those associated with the Nilambur Special Project.
Under the initiative, the officers have been able to give orientation, coach and get tribal candidates to appear for the special recruitment drive examination conducted by the Kerala Public Service Commission to recruit 500 Forest Beat Officers. Of the 30 vacancies announced for Malappuram, 20 recruits were the ones coached by the Nilambur special project officers.
Speaking to TNIE Drishya T, who cleared the examination and has been posted as a beat officer with the Nellikuthu Forest Station under the Vazhikkadavu Range in Nilambur, says, “The coaching was given for free. The initiative began with an orientation programme. This was done to get the information regarding the recruitment drive and post reach the youth living in the far-off tribal settlements deep inside the forests.”
Drishya, who hails from the Paniya tribe, came to know of the opportunity since she was already employed with the Kudumbashree.
Explaining the process, an official with the Nilambur Tribal Special Project says, “In the case of the tribal youth especially those who belong to the Cholanayaka tribe, reaching out to them is very difficult since they live deep in the forest.
It is also difficult to reach them over the phone due to range issues.” So, with the help of the tribal officers appointed to each hamlet and by word of mouth of acquaintances, the information regarding the recruitment drive was relayed to the eligible candidates.
“This is the first time that a complete examination was being conducted for the ST candidates. Earlier, for the recruitment drives that were conducted for the police and the excise departments, only the physical test was held. There was no written examination. However, this time around it was different. So, we decided to help prepare the candidates,” says the special officer.
“The coaching session was planned as a 45-days crash course and the mode was online. However, we had conducted physical classes for Mathematics and English. We had prepared and given the candidates around 6,000 questions to work out.
Each day the candidates worked out 30 questions. In the case of candidates belonging to the Cholanayaka tribe who live deep in the forest, printouts of the question for each day were handed over during our weekly visits that happened every Wednesday. The completed answer sheets were collected for evaluation on the next visit,” says the officer.
He adds that 130 candidates appeared for the examination of which three were from the Cholanayaka tribe. “Of these 130, six were women. Two of them are posted with the Social Forestry department, two with the forest flying squad and the rest are all working as beat officers,” says the officer.
Another candidate Sivaprasad N S who belongs to the Muduvan tribe says, “The exam was tough. But the coaching helped a lot.”
According to him, getting those living in the interiors was the toughest part for the officials. “I remember three candidates belonging to the Cholanayaka tribe who had to be brought to the Kudumbashree office at Nilambur a day before the exam.
They were made to stay at the office and then taken to the examination centre by the officials themselves. Of the three, one named Ravindran cleared the examination and is now posted as a beat officer,” says Sivaprasad who is posted with the Social Forestry Department at Nilambur. According to the officer, the initiative was launched by the Tribal Special Project.