2, 94,115 Vacancies Filled In Last Five Years: Railways Ministry

Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha on Friday the national transporter 2, 94,115 vacancies in the last five years. The minister has also said the provided data of recruitment in Indian Railways is till September 30, 2023. Mr Vaishnaw was replying to a question asked by member of Parliament Vikramjit Singh Sahney.

However, the ministry refused to answer a question, in which Mr Sahney asked “whether it is a fact that there are more than three lakh vacancies in various grades in railways at present”.

The minister said the occurrence and filling up of vacancies is a continuous process on Indian Railways considering its size, spatial distribution and criticality of operation.

“Recruitments are periodically done anticipating vacancies and the needs on the ground considering new services, new technologies, mechanisation and new systems that are being done. The requirement of manpower in different categories also differs based on change in priorities and technology upgradations,” Mr Vaishnaw said in the reply.

According to the minister, Railways has a dynamic process for identifying vacancies to be filled up and fills up the same in a continual manner. “The vacancies are filled up primarily by placement of indents by Railways with Recruitment agencies as per operational requirements. 2, 94,115 vacancies have been filled up in the last five years and up to 30th September 2023,” he added.

The recruitment process in Indian Railways is done by two organisations; Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) and Railway Recruitment Cell (RRC). These organisations release vacancies for various departments of the railways including clerical, technical, non-technical and Multi-Tasking Staff or MTS. Non-Technical Popular Categories or NTPC is one of the major recruitment category of Indian Railways.