The sons-of-the-soil theory in railway recruitments may not hold.
The sons-of-the-soil theory in railway recruitments may not hold. Faced with a violent agitation spearheaded by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), railway authorities countered that the recruitments are purely merit-based with no favouritism shown towards any particular community or aspirants from a state. Several of the candidates who had arrived from north India on Saturday to appear for the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) exams were beaten up allegedly by MNS activists, demanding that the “outsiders” should not hog jobs of locals. DNA spoke to railway officials to clear the air on the application and selection procedure used in RRB exams:
How are the recruitments done?
Every zonal railway collects the number of vacancies in its respective divisions and submits a consolidated figure of the number of employees required under a particular category. The RRB, an autonomous body under the ministry of railways that conducts examinations and select candidates, scrutinises such requests and finalises the examination to be conducted for each category.
Why do thousands of north Indians come to the city for the examinations?
Mumbai, for that matter Maharashtra, is not the only centre for RRB examinations. These exams are conducted across the country at various places. It just happens that anyone from any part of the country may get Mumbai as the examination centre.
Where and when did the ads appear in Marathi newspapers?
As per procedure, we place the advertisements in at least two important Marathi newspapers, in this case Loksatta and Lokmat, one English newspaper and one regional Hindi newspaper, besides making an announcement through Employment News (a paper that highlights job opportunities). Despite all this, if the local youth do not apply, we cannot be expected to go around every household, requesting Maharashtrians to apply.
For how many vacancies were the examinations conducted on Sunday?
Four zonal railways, including Central (CR) and Western Railway (WR), submitted their requirement of 518 vacancies - which included 38 in the enquiry-cum-reservation-clerk category; 134 as assistant station masters and 346 guards. As many as 1.45 lakh candidates applied for jobs with CR and WR, but about 26,000 actually came to write the exam.
What is the examination procedure like?
Examinations by RRB are conducted in an absolutely transparent manner. Apparently, the procedure was amended; earlier, candidates would be interviewed before they were selected. But following criticism about favouritism, this was discontinued. There are three different papers, with multiple choice questions, set for every exam to ensure that no two students sitting next to each other get the same question paper.
The general feeling is that they are here to clear exams for posting in Maharashtra?
It is not necessary that a candidate who writes the RRB examination papers in Mumbai will get posted in the city. The posting can be anywhere in the country where the railways, for which the exams are held, exist.
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