Indian Railways makes changes in its recruitment process following protests

In response to grievances voiced by several candidates on the recent Indian Railways recruitment drive, the Ministry of Railways has decided to shortlist 20 times the number of unique candidates (pay level wise) for the second stage computer based test for Non Technical Popular Categories (NTPC).

This would mean that if the same person is shortlisted for more than one post, they would be counted once and not multiple times

“The candidates already announced as qualified will continue to remain qualified,” according to a notice issued by the Railways Recruitment Board on Thursday. The list of additional candidates getting shortlisted will be notified at each pay level.

The Indian Railways also decided to do away with the second stage of Computer Based Test (CBT) for CEN Railway Recruitment Drive (RRD) that was opposed strongly by many candidates.

“RRC-wise CBT will be held for Level-1. Also maximum available capacity is recommended to be used, to significantly reduce the number of shifts involved for each RRC and to speed up the examination process. Percentile based normalisation, which is simple and easy to understand, will be used wherever the number of shifts involved are more than one,” the notice specified.

The decisions follow detailed examination of the candidates’ grievances by a high-level committee set up by the government

Double counting concerns

One of the major grievance of candidates was that those who had applied at more than one level and qualified at multiple levels were counted multiple times. So when the Railways said that the number of qualifying candidates shortlisted for the next round would be 20 times the number of vacant posts, the actual shortlisted candidates were much lower because of the multiple counting. This was what the candidates, who were not shortlisted, majorly objected to.

By stating that the shortlisted candidates would be unique, the Railways has clarified that there will not be any double counting.

The revised results of all pay levels are to be declared by the first week of April, 2022. The second stage of CBT for pay level 6 will be held in May, 2022. The second stage CBT for other pay levels will be conducted after giving a reasonable gap, the notice said.

The government has also decided to follow revised methodology with special conditions for conduct of CBT for Level-1 due to elimination of 2^nd stage CBT. This will involve mobilising of additional infrastructure and logistics to conduct CBT for Level-1 with significant increase in per shift requirement.

“Efforts will be made to have the exam conducting agency (ECA) on board to conduct the CBT for Level-1 as early as possible,” the notice said, adding that the CBT for Level-1 is planned to be held tentatively from July 2022 onwards.

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