The Railway Police Force (RPF) has recruited over 10,500 jawans in one of its biggest recruitment drives. A top official has informed the media that this is one of the biggest recruitment drives the force has ever seen with 50% vacancies reserved for women. The recruitment process involved the hiring of 10,537 jawans, which includes 1,120 sub-inspectors, 8,619 constables and 798 ancillary staffers. This process of recruitment had started in May last year and has only been completed recently. 

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Big recruitment drive for the RPF

The recruitment committee had received lakhs of applications for the required posts. The committee had to scan through the applicants to discover the most desirable candidate for the positions. In an effort to increase the number of women in the RPF to ensure women empowerment, the RPF has ensured an increased representation in the force. Earlier the current strength of the women constables in the RPF was about 2.25%. Currently, out of the 1,120 sub-inspectors recruited, 819 are men and 301 women. Amongst the 8,619 constables enrolled, 4,403 are men and 4,216 women. 

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'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 said in a statement. 

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The recruitment processes

Atul Pathak, the Chairman of the recruitment committee, notified the people that the exams for the recruitment processes were held in 400 centres across the country. The physical measurement test and the physical efficiency test of all the recruited candidates are completed. At the moment, only the police verification is underway. The RPF which is touted to provide better security and protection of the Indian Railways has the authority to exercise powers of railway personnel as conferred by or under the Indian Railways Act, 1890.

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(With PTI inputs)