With over 1.3 million employees, the Indian Railways is the largest employer in the country, and one of the top ten employers in the world!
With over 1.3 million employees, the Indian Railways is the largest employer in the country, and one of the top ten employers in the world! In March, this big fish had opened up a total of 8,800 railway posts for new recruits and a whopping 2.37 crore people applied!
All the applicants have to appear for a written test irrespective of whether they apply for the position of a technician, a gateman or an assistant loco pilot.
This time, the examination process will be a little different, and definitely more environment-friendly.
Earlier, applicants were handed over multi-lingual booklets, and it was calculated that each applicant utilised three to four answer papers.
Summing the total number of papers used by the applicants, Indian Railways calculated it to be around 7.5 lakh sheets—that cost approximately 10 lakh trees!
Anticipating the same kind of rush, this year, the Indian Railways has gone digital!
An officer involved in the recruitment process of the Indian Railways told NDTV, “One applicant generally needs three to four paper sheets of A4 size to write the examination. So with the whole exercise going online, the Railways has saved a significant quantity of paper sheets.”
The officials are also expecting a low rate of absentees this year. To ensure a fewer number of casual applicants, the employer collects fees from them. Rs 500 is collected from applicants in the general category, and Rs 400 is returned to them if they appear for the exam. Meanwhile, Rs 250 is collected from candidates belonging to the SC/ST category, women, physically challenged applicants, ex-servicemen and those from economically weaker sections. The entire amount is returned to them after the examination.
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The Indian Railways website had some issues while the registrations were still on, because of which many candidates were unable to apply. However, the “largest online recruitment drive in the world,” officials claim, is all set for the pressure of the examinations. They have reportedly strengthened their infrastructure to make the website run smoothly during the exams.
Taking the exams on a digital platform might be a challenge to Indian Railways with more than 2.3 crore applicants accessing their website at one time. However, it is a great move to save paper. The number of paper sheets used during these exams mounts up to cost over 10 lakh trees and shifting the “paper” online is certainly a wise, modern and eco-friendly move.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
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