Two phase drive will see reservation for the economically weak for the first time
Fourteen months after the Indian Railways (IR) announced a recruitment drive for over 1.51 lakh vacancies across departments, another mega drive is in the offing.
About 2.3 lakh more employees will be recruited in two phases according to a statement from IR.
In the first phase of fresh recruitment, a total of 1,31,428 posts across departments will be filled through the process. The drive will be initiated by February – March 2019 and completed by April – May 2020.
The second phase of recruitment will see about 99,000 replacements being hired due to the retirement of 53,000 employees in FY 20 and 46,000 in FY 21. The process will begin in May – June of 2020 and end in July – August 2021.
The drive aims to match the manpower requirements of IR, created due to tripling of investment in IR by the government, and aims to increase the overall efficiency of the entire railway network. It further aims at fixing long-standing issues of overtime work, delay in project implementation, low efficiency, and constraints on upgradation.
Reservation for Economically weaker sections
In the first phase, about 13,100 posts will be earmarked for economically weaker sections (EWS). This reservation category has been introduced for the first time after the 103rd Constitutional Amendment that was recently passed in Parliament made in mandatory. About 19,715 posts for the scheduled castes (SC), 9,857 for the scheduled tribes (ST) and 35,485 for the other backward castes (OBC) categories are also reserved from the total vacancies to be filled.
Approximately 15,000 posts will be reserved for SC, 7,500 for ST, 27,000 for OBCs and 10,000 for EWS during the second phase of recruitments, taking the total number of reserved posts to about 34,000 for SC, 17,000 for ST, 62,000 for OBCs and 23,000 for EWS.
IR Headcount
Currently IR has a sanctioned staff strength of 15,06,598 employees (over 15.06 lakh). Of this 12,23,622 (over 12.23 lakh) are on its rolls and 2,82,976 (over 2.82 lakh) are lying vacant.
Among the vacancies, IR is already in the process of filling up 1,51,548 posts. The remaining vacancies for 1,31,428 posts will be filled in the first phase of the fresh recruitment drive announced on Wednesday.
Eligibility
IR plans to recruit across functional areas. The minimum eligibility criteria varies from an engineering diploma, ITI (industrial training institute) certification, or graduation in any discipline depending on the position advertised.