In biggest recruitment drive, RPF hires over 10,500 jawans
Mumbai: In its biggest enrollment drive, theIndian Railways has recruited over 10,500 personnel in the Railway Protection Force (RPF), reserving almost 50 per cent vacancies of constables for women, a top official said.
The recruitment process of total 10,537 jawans, including 1,120 sub-inspectors, 8,619 constables and 798 ancillary staffers,began in May last year and has recently been completed, he said.
Since the current strength of women constables in the RPF is only about 2.25 per cent, the railway ministry gave priority to hire women to ensure their empowerment and increased representation in the force, he said.
"For this biggest RPF recruitment drive, we received over 82 lakh applications, including 14.25 lakh for the post of sub-inspectors against 1,120 vacancies, and 59 lakh for the posts of constables. For the ancillary posts, we got nine lakh applications,"Atul Pathak, chairman of the central recruitment committee, told PTI on Saturday.
Out of the 1,120 sub-inspectors recruited, 819 are men and 301 women. Besides, among the 8,619 constables enrolled, 4,403 are men and 4,216 women, said Pathak, who is currently principal chief security commissioner of the RPF.
Thephysical measurement test and physical efficiency test of all the successful candidates have been done and currently their police verification is underway.
The written exams for these posts were held at 400 centres across the country, Pathak said.
"For the first time, computer-based tests were introduced in the recruitment of the central armed paramilitary forces. The entire recruitment process was computerised without any manual interference to ensure transparency," he said.
The RPF, set up for better protection and security of railway property, has the power to arrest, investigate and prosecute criminals.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
