Santosh Tewari, a 1993-batch Indian Forest Service officer from the Bihar cadre, has been appointed as India's new Director General of Forests. The Director General of Forests is the senior-most position in the Indian Forest Service and heads the Forest Advisory Committee under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. This appointment places Tewari at the apex of India's forest administration, responsible for policy advice on forest conservation, wildlife, and environmental clearances.

The Director General of Forests (DGF) is the head of the Indian Forest Service and the principal technical adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on all forestry matters. The position sits at the apex of the IFS hierarchy and carries significant institutional weight in India's environmental governance architecture.

The DGF chairs the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC), which evaluates proposals for diversion of forest land under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. This makes the role central to decisions on infrastructure projects, mining, and industrial development that require felling or diversion of forest land — a recurring area of UPSC scrutiny.

The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services alongside the IAS and IPS, established under Article 312 of the Constitution. Officers are recruited through the UPSC Civil Services Examination and allocated state cadres; Bihar cadre in Tewari's case.

For exam purposes, the key testable architecture is: MoEFCC at the top, DGF as principal adviser, FAC as the statutory committee under Forest Conservation Act 1980, and the IFS as the All India Service that staffs these roles. Appointment-tracking questions typically ask batch year, cadre, and the institutional role — all three of which are confirmed here.