Indian Railways may soon shorten recruitment process from 2 yrs to 6 months

The nearly two-year-long recruitment process for Railway jobs may soon be over in just six months, if things go according to plan.

Hit by a severe staff crunch, Railways is mulling shortening the process by introducing online tests among other steps.

In a meeting of general managers with Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani soon after the derailment of the Vasco-Da-Gama-Patna Express on November 24, the zonal heads raised the issue of filling up of vacant posts in the Railways, according to the minutes of the meeting available with PTI.

"The process of recruitment takes too long, taking almost two years since submission of application. Many candidates get alternative jobs, leading to poor materialisation of indents (vacancy notice). With online tests, etc, the process should be speeded up," general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway Chahatey Ram suggested in the meeting in the presence of 17 GMs.

In response, Lohani said that the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) should review the process "with a target to complete it within six months".

The board has instructed its departments to submit their proposals on the issue by December 20.

As of December 2016, Railways has a staff strength of more than 1.3 million, while it has 225,823 vacancies in Group 'C' and Group 'D' categories.

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