Lok Sabha Question No. 5107 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-02
Subject: Vacancy/Eligibility Criteria for Group 'D' Technical Posts
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Ms. Praniti Sushilkumar Shinde

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5107 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.04.2025

VACANCY/ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR GROUP 'D' TECHNICAL POSTS 5107 MS. PRANITI SUSHILKUMAR SHINDE  :

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that the eligibility criteria for Group  D  technical  posts  in  the  Railways  have  been  lowered  from requiring an ITI certification to just a 10th pass qualification, potentially impacting the technical expertise of recruited personnel;
- (b)
- if so, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government has assessed its impact on the safety and efficiency of railway operations and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether the Government intends to revise the eligibility criteria to  ensure  that  technical  posts  require  ITI-qualified  candidates  while non-technical Group D posts continue with the 10th pass requirement in order to maintain safety and quality standards in railway operations and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (d) The  nature  of  job  in  Level  1  posts  (erstwhile  Group  'D' posts)  is  to  provide  assistance  to  skilled  technicians.  It  also  serves partially as a feeding cadre to the category of Technicians. The

technical expertise expected of Level 1 officials is that of a general nature.  Level  1  employees  learn  the  skills  of  the  trades  and  are promoted to the grade of skilled technicians.

Sixth  Central  Pay  Commission  had  recommended the upgradation of all  the  Group  'D'  posts  to  Group  'C'  posts  with  minimum  educational qualification for future recruitments being matriculation (10th pass) or ITI.  The  same  was  implemented  and  the  minimum  educational qualification  for  all  Group  'D'  posts  was  fixed  as  10th pass  or  ITI  or equivalent  or  National  Apprenticeship  Certificate  (NAC)  granted  by National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT).

Subsequently in the year 2017, it was decided by the Railway Board to raise  the  entry  qualification  of  above  Level1  (erstwhile  Group  'D') posts in the technical departments to 10th pass plus NAC granted by NCVT or 10th pass plus ITI.

However, in view of the experience of the previous recruitments and public  demand,  the  issue  of  minimum  educational  qualification  has been revisited by the Railway Board and it was felt desirable to keep the  educational  qualification  as  10th pass  or  ITI  or  equivalent  or National  Apprenticeship  Certificate  (NAC)  granted  by  NCVT  for  all future  open  market  recruitments  in  Level-1  in  Railways.  It  has  been done as the talent pool available from 10th pass candidates is larger and has yielded good results.

Further,  occurrence  and  filling  up  of  vacancies  is  a  continuous process on Indian Railways considering its size, spatial distribution

and  criticality  of  operation. Adequate  and  suitable  manpower  is provided  to  cater  to  the  regular  operations,  changes  in  technology, mechanisations and innovative practices. The vacancies are filled up primarily  by  placement  of  indents  by  Railways  with  Recruitment agencies as per operational and technological requirements.

After  easing  of  restrictions  imposed  on  account  of  COVID  19,  two major  examinations  involving  more  than  2.37  crore  candidates  have been conducted successfully during 2020 to 2022.

| Exam    | Candidates   |   Cities |   Centres |   Days |   Shifts |
|---------|--------------|----------|-----------|--------|----------|
| L2 - L6 | 1.26 cr      |      211 |       726 |     68 |      133 |
| L1      | 1.1 cr       |      191 |       551 |     33 |       99 |

Based on these exams, 130581 candidates have been recruited in Railways.

The  RRB  examinations  are  quite  technical  in  nature  entailing  large scale  mobilization  of  men  and  resources  and  training  of  manpower. Railway  overcame  all  these  challenges  and  successfully  conducted the  recruitment  in  a  transparent  manner  following  all  laid  down guidelines.  No  instance  of  paper  leakage  or  similar  malpractice  has occurred during the entire process.

Recruitment done in Indian Railways during 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 vis-à-vis during 2014-2015 to 2023-2024 is given as under:-

| Period                 | Recruitments*   |
|------------------------|-----------------|
| 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 | 4.11 lakhs      |
| 2014-2015 to 2023-2024 | 5.02 lakhs      |

Further,  as  a  system  improvement,  the  Ministry  of  Railways  has introduced  a  system  of  publishing  annual  calendar  from  2024  for recruitment to various categories of Group 'C' posts. The introduction of annual calendar will benefit the aspirants in the following manner:

- More opportunities for candidates;
- Opportunities to those becoming eligible every year;
- Certainty of exams;
- Faster Recruitment process, Training and Appointments

Accordingly,  eleven  Centralized  Employment  Notifications  (CENs)  for 102016  (Safety-73569,  Non-Safety  28447)  vacancies  were  notified during January 2024 to March 2025 for filling up of posts of Assistant Loco Pilots, Technicians, Sub-Inspectors, Constables in Railway Protection Force (RPF), Junior Engineers (JEs)/ Depot Material Superintendent  (DMS)/  Chemical  &  Metallurgical  Assistant  (CMA), Paramedical Categories, Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate), Non-Technical Popular Categories (Under-Graduate), Ministerial & Isolated Categories and Level-1.

For  five  notifications,  Computer  Based  Tests  (CBTs)  have  been completed in two phases from 25.11.2024 to 30.12.2024 and 02.03.2025 to 18.03.2025. The details are as under:-

| Exam                                                        | Candidates   |   Cities |   Centres |   Days |   Shifts |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|----------|-----------|--------|----------|
| 1 st Stage CBT for the post of ALP (18,799 vacancies)       | 18,40,347    |      156 |       346 |      5 |       15 |
| CBT for the post of RPF-SI (452 vacancies)                  | 15,35,635    |      143 |       306 |      5 |       15 |
| 1 st Stage CBT for the post of JE/DMS/CMA (7,951 vacancies) | 11,01,266    |      146 |       323 |      3 |        9 |
| CBT for the post of Technician (14,298 vacancies)           | 26,99,892    |      139 |       312 |      9 |       27 |
| CBT for the post of RPF-Constable (4208 vacancies)          | 45,30,288    |      149 |       354 |     12 |       36 |

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