Indian Railways to recruit 2.30 lakh employees in 2 years; first major recruitment with 10% reservations for EWS

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on January 23, 2019 announced that the Indian Railways will initiate the fresh recruitment of around 2,30,000 more employees under various cadres over the next two years in two phases.

This will be the first major recruitment in India with the benefit of 10 percent reservations for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of General Category after the passage of 103rd Constitutional Amendment in the Parliament.

The Recruitment will be for various cadres and minimum eligibility criteria will vary from certification from Industrial Training Institutes or Diploma or Degree in Engineering or Graduation in any discipline, depending on the post.

Phase-I of recruitment

• The first phase of fresh recruitment of 1,31,328 posts will be initiated in the month of February-March 2019.

• As per reservation policy of the Government, around 19715, 9857 and 35485 number of vacancies will be reserved for SC, ST and OBC candidates respectively.

• As per 103rd Constitutional Amendment, 10 percent of these vacancies, around 13,100 will be filled in from Economically Weaker Sections.

• This cycle will be completed by April-May 2020.

Phase II of recruitment

• Once the first phase of recruitment is completed, the second phase will be initiated in May-June 2020 for the recruitment of around 99,000 personnel against the vacancies arising out of retirements.

• As per the reservation policy, around 15000, 7500, and 27000 will be reserved for SC, ST, and OBC candidates respectively.

• As per 103rd Constitutional Amendment, 10 percent of these vacancies, around 10,000 posts will be filled in from Economically Weaker Sections.

• This cycle will be completed by July-August 2021.

Significance

• The recruitment will be line with the mega recruitment process for enrollment of 1,51,548 employees initiated by the Indian Railways in 2018 under the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB).

• Indian Railways is consistently expanding its workforce to match the manpower requirements of new projects and increase the overall efficiency of the entire railway network.

• It will boost the regional economies, while boost in connectivity through the Railways will integrate the economic potential of regions and give further rise to job opportunities for the youth of the nation.    

• These recruitment drives will fix long-standing issues of overtime work, delay in project implementation, low efficiency, and constraints on upgradation.

Facts and Figures: Current situation in Indian Railways

• At present, Indian Railways has a sanctioned strength of 15,06,598 employees.

• Out of these, 12,23,622 personnel are on roll.

• The remaining 2,82,976 are vacant posts.

• Recruitment for 1,51,548 posts is still going on, leaving 1,31,428 posts still vacant.

• These 1,51,548 posts include recruitment of RRB Group D, RRB ALP, RRB JE and Railway Police.

• Approximately 53,000 and 46,000 railway employees are expected to retire in 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively, causing an additional vacancy of approximately 99,000 employees.

• After taking into account the current recruitments, there will be total net vacancies of 1,31,428 and approximately 99,000 in 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively, that sums up to around 2,30,000 vacancies in the railways over next two years.