News Brief
Indian Railways. (Wikimedia Commons).
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government has created 5.02 lakh jobs in the railway sector from 2014 to 2024, according to data presented by Railway Minister in Parliament.
In response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav highlighted that the previous UPA administration (2004-2014) managed to create 4.11 lakh jobs, which is less than the current government.
The information was provided in response to questions posed by MP Fauzia Khan of the Sharad Pawar faction of NCP.
Regarding job creation, Vaishnav said that between August 2022 and October 2022, over 1.1 crore candidates appeared for the RRB exams, out of which 1,30,581 were hired by the railways.
He assured that the recruitment process was free of paper leaks or similar issues, with most hiring done in safety-related roles.
Addressing safety measures, Vaishnav noted that consequential accidents have decreased from 118 in 2013-14 to 40 in 2023-24.
Over the NDA's decade-long tenure, there were 678 accidents with 748 fatalities.
While the number of accidents has decreased by 60 percent, fatalities have only dropped by 17 percent.
The Railway Ministry stressed that safety is a top priority, with expenditure on safety measures rising from Rs 87,736 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 1,08,795 crore in 2024-25.
To date, over 9,572 coaches have been equipped with CCTV.