Highlighting transparency and compliance of all laid down guidelines of recruitment process, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Railway Recruitment Board examinations are quite technical in nature entailing large scale mobilisation of men and resources and training of manpower.

“Railway overcame all these challenges and successfully conducted the recruitment in a transparent manner following all laid down guidelines. No instance of paper leakage or similar malpractice has occurred during the entire process,” Mr Vaishnaw said in a written reply in Lok Sabha to questions raised by DMK MP Kalanidhi Veeraswamy.

Veeraswamy wanted to know the number of vacant posts in the Railways and steps taken by the government to fill them.

“Occurrence and filling up of vacancies are a continuous process in Indian Railways considering its size, spatial distribution and criticality of operation,” Mr Vaishnaw said.

He added, “Adequate and suitable manpower is provided to cater to the regular operations, changes in technology, mechanisations and innovative practices. The vacancies are filled up primarily by placement of indents by Railways with Recruitment agencies as per operational and technological requirements.” According to the railway minister, after easing of restrictions imposed on account of COVID 19, two major examinations involving more than 2.37 crore candidates have been conducted successfully.

“Computer Based Test (CBT) exam for more than 1.26 crore candidates was conducted in 7 phases from 28.12.2020 to 31.07.2021 in 133 shifts in 68 days across 211 cities and 726 centres,” Mr Vaishnaw said.

“Similarly, CBT was conducted for more than 1.1 crore candidates in 5 phases from 17.08.2022 to 11.10.2022 in 99 shifts in 33 days across 191 cities and 551 centres. Based on these exams, 1,30,581 candidates have been recruited in railways,” he added.

Drawing a comparison of recruitment done in Indian Railways during 2004-2014 vis-a-vis during 2014-2024, Mr Vaishnaw said 4.11 lakh recruitment were done between 2004-14 while between 2014-24, 5.02 lakh recruitment took place.

“Further, as system improvement, the Ministry of Railways has introduced a system of publishing an annual calendar this year for recruitment to various categories of Group ‘C’ posts,” Mr Vaishnaw said.

“Accordingly, four Centralized Notifications (CENs) for 32,603 vacancies have been notified during January to March 2024 for filling up of posts of Assistant Loco Pilots, Technicians, Sub-Inspectors & Constables in Railway Protection Force (RPF),” he said.

According to the railway minister, the introduction of an annual calendar will benefit the aspirants in terms of offering them more opportunities, certainty of exams and faster recruitment process, training and appointments.

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