In a degree-obsessed India, if there’s one exception where candidates choose not to flaunt their qualifications, it is probably the Railways’ exam for Level-1 posts. This is because many fear ‘over-qualification’ may mar their chances of getting the post.

The Railways has to select some 63,000 candidates to work in tough terrain and extreme climate, toil on the tracks, work on the floor of mechanical workshops in far-flung areas. These demanding jobs call for several skill sets — and an educational qualification of Std 10 pass.

 

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In the applications that have been submitted, almost 20 lakh candidates have officially shared that their qualifications are higher than that required. “From the 1.89 crore candidates, 1.69 crore candidates are at least Std 10 pass, while the rest have diverse higher qualifications,” says Angaraj Mohan, Executive Director-Staff, Railway Board, after sifting through applicants’ data.

But, Mohan suspects, there may be many more with higher educational qualification who do not disclose it upfront. Candidates’ fear of bias against over-qualification is not baseless, since it is backed by the field experience of Railway officials. Even today, many of the Railways’ trackmen are engineers. Senior officials discover this during casual interactions, a long time after recruitment.

Several Railway officials have told BusinessLine that the higher qualified candidates may crack the exams easily but do not take pride in their work and are unwilling to toil hard. Some even ask their village buddies to chip in, paying them a few bucks.

But that is not so with the less qualified candidates. “People who join from interior areas without having studied much are forever indebted and loyal to the Railways. They thank the Railways for the job, financial security, housing, medical and other benefits,” says a former Railway Board official, adding that local knowledge also matters.

Despite the hardships involved in these jobs, the pull of a permanent government job remains particularly high in the Hindi belt of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and less developed States like Rajasthan. This is evident from the data on States from which the candidates hailed, their preferred language, and the number of centres in those States. “These hirings will make good a large part of the existing staff shortage in Railways, ensuring that Railway works do not suffer for want of manpower,” Sachidanand Agrawal, Member-Staff, Indian Railways, tells BusinessLine .

 

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The maximum number of applicants for the recent set of recruitment exams held during September-December 2018 came from UP (38.13 lakh or 20 per cent) and Bihar (26.8 lakh or 14 per cent). In effect, these two States accounted for a third of applicants. Almost 60 per cent of candidates chose Hindi as their preferred language in the exam.

The draw of a permanent job

“A Government job is preferred in States like UP and Bihar where even engineering graduates have applied for trackman posts,” says Mohan. Preference for such jobs is low in Tamil Nadu where a person would rather, say, open a mobile phone repair shop, observes a local Railway recruitment official. Unsurprisingly, the maximum number of exam centres, over 83, was in Uttar Pradesh.

However, the border-States, several of which grapple with insurgency and terrorism, have also seen candidates applying in the thousands, if not lakhs. For instance, Jammu and Kashmir drew 55,910 applicants and the State had five centres for them to sit for the exams. The North-Eastern States saw a few thousand candidates applying. Applications came in from Manipur (3,246), Nagaland (1,911), Meghalaya (2,149) and Mizoram (120). For the convenience of such candidates, five examination centres were allotted in Assam and Manipur and one each in Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. The centres chosen were primarily engineering colleges and computer learning centres, with the requisite infrastructure — including computers. In each of these 51 days last year, the exam was conducted in three shifts, in over 400 centres across India. “About 3.5 lakh aspirants took the exam each day, with peaks of four lakh aspirants a day,” Mohan tells BusinessLine .

KYC — Know your candidate

These aspirants come from diverse backgrounds, driven by different motivations. Some are training to be teachers and MBAs. Raunak Sharma, Modinagar, is pursuing her Bachelors in teacher training and has relied on ‘self-study’ for the exam. She and her friend Tejaswi Singh, who is a B Com, MBA, have not interacted with Railway officials in the past. For them, it is simply a hunt for employment. “We also want to know where we stand in this hyper-competitive world,” says Raunak, as an after-thought.

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Some of these job-seekers have varied work experience. Ravi Kumar, a lanky lad from Bulandshahr, has studied till Std 12, and works for a company that maintains the parks for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

He applied for the exam, spurred by his friend, who was taking the assistant loco pilot exam. Tarak Kumar from Bulandshahr works part time and wants to get into Railways for a permanent job. Youngster Arayi, who has taken her intermediate exams, hails from Parsundei Bhopura, Ghaziabad, and has seen her mamaji work in the Railways as a loco-pilot. Many aspirants worked during the day and studied at night. Several took special “coaching classes” that coaching centres conduct exclusively for Railway exams. Gayatri took an 80-day course while Ela took a six-month special course for the exam.

However, the most interesting trend that has emerged is the way coaching specialists have taken to YouTube to stream lessons. Ravi, and many others, have relied on YouTube channels to prep themselves. These channels have come in handy, particularly for those who work during the day.

Railways’ inclusive meter

From its side, the Railways tried to up its diversity quotient by conducting exams in several languages and several places across the country. To prevent language from being a hurdle, questions were made available in 15 languages. “These 15 languages are the first language in one or more zonal Railways,” says Mohan. Railways operates through 17 zones, all of which do not strictly conform to the political map.

Over half of total applicants — 1.12 crore — preferred Hindi to take the exam. Other languages favoured were Telugu (14 lakh), Bengali (13.64 lakh), Gujarati (5.39 lakh), Odiya (4.98 lakh), Tamil (4.94 lakh), Malayalam (4.94 lakh) and Urdu (1.0 lakh), discloses Mohan. In case of doubt in the question paper, the English question paper should be referred to, Railways had advised.

The Railways also set reservations for dwarfs for the first time, acknowledged transgenders, and increased reservation for the physically challenged. Bringing new identities into the mainstream is a significant landmark of this round of exams.

(Names of candidates have been changed to protect identity)

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