Owing to technology, over 72,000 Group C and D posts in Indian Railways have been abolished in the last six years against a proposal to surrender 81,000 posts during the same period.

According to the Railways data, Group C and D posts ranging from peons, water boys, gardeners, nursing staff and teaching staff among others are being abolished. Employees currently holding such posts are likely to be absorbed in the various departments of the Railways.

The Railways maintain that those posts which are non-essential and have become redundant due to technology will not be available for recruitment purposes in the future. These posts are being eliminated as the Railways operations have become modern and digitised.

Since many services like cleaning are being outsourced now, the Railways is not recruiting people in these categories.

The number of sanctioned posts in Railways is also decreasing due to outsourcing. For example, electrical-mechanical technicians in generators of Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Mail-Express trains, assistants in coaches, onboard cleaning have been given on contract.

According to the data, the 16 zonal railways have surrendered 56,888 "non-essential" posts during the financial years 2015-16 to 2020-21, with 15,495 more scheduled to be surrendered.

While Northern Railway has surrendered more than 9,000 posts, the South Eastern Railway has given up around 4,677. The Southern Railway has abolished 7,524 posts and the Eastern Railways more than 5,700.

According to the Railways, a work-study performance of staffers, which determines if a certain post is defunct or not, for the financial year 2021-22 is in the final stages. It is expected that around 9,000 more posts will be surrendered after the process is completed. The number of sanctioned posts in the Railways is also decreasing due to outsourcing.

The Railways, one of the largest employers in the country, has to spend one-third of its total income on salaries and pensions. It currently spends 37 paise out of every one rupee earned on salaries of workers and 16 paise on pensions. The employee strength has been a burden for the transporter, both in terms of salaries and pensions.

Currently, the Railways' employee strength is less than 13 lakh.

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