Mayank Shukla🇮🇳

#Obituary The Indian Forest Service has lost a young officer whose brief career was marked by conservation, innovation and community participation. 🌿 2019-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IFS officer Vikas Nayak, 36, died in a road accident on September 29 while serving as Divisional Forest Officer of Etawah. His years in service may have been few, but his work left a meaningful imprint. 🔹 During his tenure in Firozabad, Nayak played an important role in transforming degraded ravines along the Yamuna into the Rapdi Eco Tourism Centre. The initiative brought together ecological restoration, responsible tourism and community participation, with villagers and women-led Self-Help Groups involved in managing the facility. After moving to Etawah, he took up another ambitious initiative — a plantation drive targeting 55 lakh saplings, while working to involve schools, citizens and government departments in planting and protecting them. 🌱 His contribution went beyond forest administration. 📚 Nayak regularly interacted with students and UPSC aspirants, conducting career guidance programmes and sharing his own experience of clearing the Civil Services Examination and joining the Indian Forest Service. His approach connected forests with communities, livelihoods, education and public participation. At just 36, a promising career has come to an untimely end. But the landscapes he helped restore, the communities he worked with and the young people he inspired remain part of his legacy. 🕊️ Indian Masterminds remembers IFS officer Vikas Nayak for his contribution to forest conservation and public service. #VikasNayak #IFS #IndianForestService #ForestConservation #WildlifeConservation #EcoTourism #UttarPradesh #Firozabad #Etawah #IndianMasterminds @CentralIfs @DisttForester @UpforestUp