Automation, Outsourcing Kills 72,000 Jobs In Indian Railways In Last 6 Years: Which Jobs No Longer Exist?

In a bid to surrender 81,000 posts owing to technology, over 72,000 Group C and D posts in Indian Railways have been abolished in the last six years.

How Did This Happen?

According to the Railways data, Group C and D posts ranging from peons, water boys, gardeners, nursing staff and teaching staff among others are being abolished. 

These employees who are presently holding such positions are likely to be absorbed in the various departments of the Railways.

Railways mentions that those posts which are non-essential and have become redundant due to technology will not be available for recruitment purposes in the future. 

Basically, these posts are being eliminated as the Railways operations have become modern and digitized.

Besides this, many services for instance cleaning are being outsourced now.

So, the Railways has stopped recruiting people in these categories.

Reducing Sanctioned Posts In Railways

There are a number of sanctioned posts in Railways, which are also decreasing due to outsourcing. 

Consider the example of electrical-mechanical technicians in generators of Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Mail-Express trains, assistants in coaches, onboard cleaning have been given on contract.

Railways data shows that the 16 zonal railways have surrendered 56,888 “non-essential” posts during the financial years 2015-16 to 2020-21, with 15,495 more scheduled to be surrendered.

Similarly, the Northern Railway has surrendered more than 9,000 posts, followed by South Eastern Railway which has given up around 4,677. 

The Eastern Railways has more than 5,700 and the Southern Railway has abolished 7,524 posts.

A work-study performance of staffers for determining if a certain post is defunct or not, for the financial year 2021-22 is in the final stages, according to the Railways.

Once this process is complete, it is estimated that around 9,000 more posts will be surrendered. 

The outsourcing has also affected the number of sanctioned posts in the Railways, they are also expected to be decreasing.

So far, Indian Railways is one of the largest employers in the country who has to spend one-third of its total income on salaries and pensions. 

Presently, the national transporter is spending 37 paise out of every one rupee earned on salaries of workers and 16 paise on pensions. 

It seems that the less than 13 lakh employee strength has been a burden for the transporter, both in terms of salaries and pensions.