Railways' Switch to Online Recruitment Test Saves 10 Lakh Trees From Facing The Axe
If the exams were to be held offline, papers would had to be printed for nearly 2.37 crores candidates who have applied.
New Delhi, April 24: For recruiting upto nearly a lakh employees for posts ranging from assistant loco pilot to technician, trackman, gateman and pointsman, the Indian Railways will be conducting the exams online. This decision of the Railways is expected to save upto 10 lakh trees from facing the axe.
If the exams were to be held offline, papers would had to be printed for nearly 2.37 crores candidates who have applied. "This would have translated to nearly 10 lakh trees being cut," said a senior Railway official, explaining the environmental benefits of the Railways' online switch.
The recruitment exam will be conducted at a total of 300 centres across the nation. "There are 62,000 posts involving track inspection crews and others related to improving safety, while more than 26,000 posts relate to engine drivers and technicians," the official said.
Another new decision taken by the Railways was to hike the fee taken from candidates who apply for the recruitment test. For general candidates, the fee is Rs 500, whereas, Rs 250 will be taken from the Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe candidates.
"This is to discourage the non-serious candidates from enrolling," an official said, adding that those general candidates who appear for the exam would be later refunded Rs 400, whereas, the SC/ST, women and candidates from the economically weaker sections will be refunded the entire amount.
Although the online recruitment tests appear to be a convenient option, the system needs to be glitch free in order to ensure hassle-free conduct of the examinations. Academicians claim the upcoming exams for over a lakh posts, featuring over two crore candidates, is the "world's largest ever" online test. "The challenge remains whether this could be conducted without glitches," opines Mumbai University professor Mithun Pillai.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 24, 2018 09:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).