Good news for job seekers: Railways to hire 4 lakh employees, says Piyush Goyal

Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that Railways will hire close to 4 lakh people. The Railway Minister said that last year Railways provided employment to 1.5 lakh people. 

"New job opportunities for 2.25-2.50 Lakh people has been created, process for 1.50 Lakh vacancies is underway. So Railways, in a way, will be providing 4 Lakh jobs", Goyal said. 

#WATCH: Railways Minister Piyush Goyal announces 2.50 Lakh additional vacancies in the Railways, says "New job opportunities for 2.25-2.50 Lakh people has been created, process for 1.50 Lakh vacancies is underway. So Railways, in a way, will be providing 4 Lakh jobs." pic.twitter.com/Oeccbuk3wu

— ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2019

Earlier, Piyush Goyal had said that Job security irrespective of performance is the attraction of government jobs. 

He further added that adding that the sheer volume of those who apply for such jobs should not be seen as lack of other job opportunities in the country.

Goyal and Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar were speaking at a CII workshop on jobs and livelihoods.

They said the government has provided enough jobs in the last five years, however, data sources were unable to adequately capture this trend. Javadekar remarked that people who do not work out of choice cannot be considered 'unemployed'.

Citing the example of railways where 15 million applications are received for a handful of posts, the railway minister said such data is often used to highlight high rate of unemployment.

"The attraction and lure of government jobs in the traditional Indian context is extremely huge. People think if they get a government job, they are sorted for life....they are permanent and, even if they misbehave and are found to be not good at their work, it does not matter, the unions will take care of the. That is the reality," Goyal had then said.