In its biggest ever recruitment drive, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has recruited over 10,500 personnel, with 50 per cent of the constables hired being women, reports The Economic Times.

The process to hire 1,120 sub-inspectors, 8,619 constables and 798 ancillary staffers had been initiated by the Indian Railways in May last year and has finally been completed. It should be noted that as many as 82 lakh individuals had applied for the posts.

The culmination of the major recruitment drive would help augment the security apparatus of the Indian railways, while also boosting the proportion of women constables in the force, which is presently a paltry 2.25 per cent.

This was the first time that the Indian Railways had carried out recruitment by computer-based tests for the central armed paramilitary forces in a bid to do away with any kind of manual. This has added an element of transparency to the process.

Presently, the police verification of the selected candidates is under process, post which the entire drive would come to a close and the newly hired recruits will be joining the force.