Railways to address issues raised by protesting candidates

Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw on Thursday said the government will protect the interest of those candidates who have cleared Computer-Based Test-1 (CBT-1) in the Non-Technical Popular Category (NTPC) recruitment drive.

The officials' committee constituted to hear grievances of job-seekers has already started functioning. Besides, every railway recruitment board official will also meet the protesting candidates to take account of their views. Based on the committee report, the railway ministry will take decisions on the next course of action, the minister said here.

The railways will provide justice to all and will address the issues raised by protesting candidates, he added.

Over the demand to prevent higher qualified candidates from competing for jobs that required 10+2 education, the railway minister said the government will fix only minimum education qualification for the jobs and not maximum qualification.

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The government cannot legally bar graduates from applying to posts that require 10+2 qualifications, he said.

After violent protests in Bihar by job aspirants over the selection process of its recruitment exams, Indian Railways on Wednesday decided to put on hold its recruitment drives and talk to the agitators.

As a result, the Non-Technical Popular Category (NTPC) recruitment drive, whose second round of exams was scheduled to start from February 15, is now on hold.

Railways is recruiting candidates for 35,281 vacant posts in various categories ranging from junior clerk and train assistant to station master across its verticals in its zones.

Of the total vacancies, 24,281 posts are open to graduates, 11,000 are for under-graduates. Around 1.25 crore candidates had applied for the jobs.

Reacting to some of demands of protesters, Vaishnaw said no candidate can be recruited for multiple posts.

After vacancies were announced in 2019, the exams were to be tentatively held in September 2019, but was postponed to March 2020. Due to Covid-19, CTBT-1 (Computer Based Test) was held over 68 days in 133 shifts with two shifts each day between April-July 2020. The results for CBT-1 were declared on January 14, 2022. The next stage, called CBT-2, was scheduled for mid-February.

The protestors have raised many issues including opposing a two-stage examination. They say the second stage for final selection is tantamount to “cheating” those who appeared and cleared the first stage of the computer-based test which was released on January 15.

Many of the protesters also opposed allowing candidates with higher qualifications to compete for jobs meant for those with relatively lower qualifications.

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