Ministry of Railways has announced that it will release by next month the result panel for 66,604 vacancies for which Railway Recruitment Board exams were conducted in 2018.
Out of these 66,604 vacancies for which panels will published, around 10,000 are for so-called Level 1 jobs, while the others are for ‘Group C’ jobs.
Level 1, or Group D, roles comprise the most basic, entry-level jobs such as that of the gangman and gate operator.
Such employees are in charge of maintaining the physical infrastructure of the railways, such as the tracks and stations.
Group C jobs are slightly more skilled, and include clerks, switchmen, signalmen, cabinmen and so on.
After a period of lull, Ministry of Railways had conducted exams for 1.41 lakh jobs in 2018 and 1.43 lakh vacancies this year.
As is usual, the recruitment process for Group D or Level 1 employees has moved faster than that for Group C.
Out of the 63,202 Group D posts for which exams were conducted in 2018, selection data has already been issued for 53,285. Rank lists — or panels — for the remaining 10,000 or so jobs will be published later this month or in January, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said today.
The recruitment and selection of Group C employees is moving more slowly.
Out of the 77,909 Group C posts for which exams were conducted in 2018, panels have been notified only for 21,222 posts. Panels for the remaining 56,000 posts also be released by January, Goyal said.
2019 RAILWAY EXAMS
The Railway Recruitment Board also conducted exams for 1.42 lakh posts this year.
However, in 2018, when there were more Group C vacancies than Level 1 vacancies, but this y ear, more than 1 lakh out of the total 1.43 lakh vacancies belonged to the Level 1 or Group D category.
Around 1.15 cr people have applied for the 1 lakh Group D jobs, the minister said.
Results have not been announced for any of the Group D vacancies yet.
However, out of the 38,794 Group C posts for which exams were conducted this year, panels have been announced for 1,519 posts.
“For remaining 36,871 vacancies in Group ‘C’, recruitment is under process and panels for these are likely to be supplied by the year 2020,” Goyal said.
OBC, SC, ST EMPLOYEES
Goyal also released data on the community composition of Indian Railways’ existing staff.
Indian Railways has a total of 15,317 ‘officer level’ staff, and 12.03 lakh non-officer level staff.
Out of the 12.03 lakh non-officer level staff, 53% of the total jobs have been given to candidates belonging to the so-called ‘general category’, which comprises about 33% of India’s population.
The scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities, who comprise around 25% of India’s population, also comprise around 3 lakh, or 25%, of the total non-officer employee base of Indian Railways.
The only category that is significantly under-represented in Indian Railways is the OBC or ‘Other Backward Communities’.
Despite comprising around 42% of India’s population, OBC communities were able to get only 21.7% of the non-officer jobs in Indian Railways, according to Goyal’s numbers.
The situation was no better in the officer category too, with OBCs accounting for just 11.5% of the total 15,317 such employees in Indian Railways.