Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has announced mega jobs drive in the Railways. The Railways have announced vacancies for additional 2.50 lakh posts. While addressing the press, Piyush Goyal said, “New job opportunities for 2.25-2.50 lakh people have been created, process for 1.50 lakh vacancies is underway. So Railways, in a way, will be providing 4 Lakh jobs.” Therefore, the vacancies that have been announced are in addition to the 1.50 lakh vacancies on which recruitment is already underway.
The Railway Minister said that even after filling up the current notified vacancies, there will be 132,000 posts with the railways. The Railway Recruitment Board has decided to come up with notification to fill up these vacancies soon. Goyal said, “In addition, over 100,000 people are going to retire from the railways in the next two years. We have decided to fill those vacancies too.”
The first phase of recruitment for 131,328 posts shall be initiated in February-March, 2019. And this cycle is expected to be completed by April-May, 2020. Goyal added, “We will soon be inviting tenders for appointing technical and other back-end operators to fill up 132,000 vacancies. Moreover, the promised reservation for economically weaker sections of society will be applicable in the coming recruitment.”
As per indianexpress.com, an official from the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) said, “The Railway Board will advertise for the first phase of the recruitment in February and the second likely in May. The entire recruitment process will be completed by August 2021.” The official also said, “apart from the benefits credited to the reserve category candidates, the economically poor candidates will also get benefits according to 10 percent reservation.”
Of late, the Railways has been in the news for carrying out mega recruitment drives. Last year, they carried out recruitment of 89,409 posts for lower lever staffers including Loco Pilots and Technicians. It was the biggest recruitment exercise anywhere in the world. A record number of candidates had applied for the posts of Assistant Loco Pilots (ALPs) and Technicians. Around 2.27 crore candidates were said to have applied for this examination. However, even after conducting an examination of such huge magnitude, the government and the Indian Railways have taken utmost care to ensure the welfare of the candidates and that no injustice is done to any one of them. The government has adopted an extensive methodology to ensure that candidates are not made to appear in far-flung areas away from their hometowns.
The Railways have been going through a process of intense reforms and innovation. With a number of new premium trains boasting of high-class service and better speeds being introduced, it is only natural that the Railways would require a larger number of employees to ensure smooth operations. Moreover, the incumbent government has been particular about infrastructure development especially in the isolated regions of the country. As the Railways start operations in new areas, the greater workforce would definitely be required to manage its operations.
What must be appreciated is the far-sightedness of the Indian Railways under the leadership of Piyush Goyal. It is clear that those at the helm of affairs understand that the Railways are changing like never before and therefore, a mega recruitment drive is being carried out in order to ensure that Railways carry out its operations smoothly with changing times.