The Railways announced on Tuesday that it will hire 1,48,463 people over the next year, up from 43,678 people on average over the previous eight years. This action followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's directive to hire 10 lakh people in various departments and ministries over the next 18 months.
According to the Department of Expenditure on Pay and Allowances' most recent annual report, the total number of regular central government civilian employees in position (including in Union territories) as of March 1, 2020, was 31.91 lakh, compared to the sanctioned strength of 40.78 lakh, with approximately 21.75 percent of the posts vacant.
According to the report, five major ministries or departments account for nearly 92 percent of total manpower: railways, defence (civil), home affairs, posts, and revenue.
The railways have a 40.55 percent share of the total strength of 31.33 lakh (excluding UTs). According to government sources, various departments and ministries were asked to prepare vacancy details in response to Modi's directive, and the decision to hire 10 lakh people was made after an overall review. During various Assembly elections, opposition parties attempted to pin the BJP down on the issue of unemployment. According to the Railways, its total intake from 2014-15 to 2021-22 was 3,49,422 people, with an average of 43,678 per year, and it will hire 1,48,463 people in 2022-23.
The Ministry of Railways continues to have the largest share of total pay and allowances expenditure in 2019-20, with 35.06 percent, a marginal decrease from 36.78 percent in 2018-19.
According to official documents, the national transporter has eliminated over 72,000 jobs in the last six years, despite a proposal to surrender 81,000 jobs during the same time period, according to the PTI.
All of these are Group C and D positions that have become obsolete due to technological advances and will no longer be available for recruitment in the future. Employees currently holding such positions will most likely be absorbed into other departments of the Railways.
According to officials, these positions had to be eliminated because railway operations have become more modern and digitised. According to the documents, the 16 zonal railways surrendered 56,888 "non-essential" posts from 2015-16 to 2020-21, with another 15,495 scheduled to be surrendered.
While the Northern Railways has surrendered over 9,000 positions, the South Eastern Railway has surrendered approximately 4,677. The Southern Railway has eliminated 7,524 jobs, while the Eastern Railway has eliminated over 5,700.
