Over 14 Lakh Females Among 57 Lakh Candidates Appear In Railway Recruitment Drive

In a massive recruitment exercise, more than 57 lakh candidates including 14 lakh women and 123 transgenders appeared for over 35,000 railway jobs amid the Covid protocols across the country.

According to the railways, the largest employer in the country, a total of 12,588,524 applications were submitted out of which 5,761,276 candidates appeared for non-technical popular categories (NTPC) which include assistant station masters, guards, senior and junior clerks and commercial clerks in 726 centres, wearing masks and observing strictly social-distancing norms.

The railway jobs are drawing a significant number of female candidates as 1,422,909 appeared for the test, said a senior Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) official.

There are 21 RRBs involved in conducting the examination in 208 cities in 33 states. About 7 lakh candidates would be selected for the second-stage test after evaluation of the first test.

We select 20 times more than the number of vacancies for which the test is being conducted, said the official.

Since it was a huge recruitment exercise involving lakhs of candidates, the exam was conducted in seven phases beginning in December last year.

The recruitment exercise began with the first stage computer-based test commencing on 28 December 2020 and concluding on 31 July 2021 after a seven-phase examination.

The minimum qualification was graduate and undergraduate for junior clerks.