‘No Vacancy’

The Wire Staff

According to the latest ‘Annual Report on Pay & Allowances’ by the finance ministry, the number of sanctioned posts are 39. 77 lakh, which is the lowest in the last three years. The number of vacant posts are over 9.64 lakh.

The latest figure for the number of persons in civilian jobs in the Union government is at 30.13 lakh, the lowest it has been since 2010. At 39.77 lakh, the number of sanctioned posts is the lowest in the last three years. Consequently, over 9.64 lakh posts are vacant in the Union government.

The above figures are based on the latest ‘Annual Report on Pay & Allowances’ brought out by the Department of Expenditure of the Finance Ministry.

Between March 1, 2021, and March 1, 2022, the total sanctioned strength of Central government civilian regular employees, barring Union territories, came down from 40.35 lakh to 39.77 lakh. The dip in the sanctioned posts is due to the lowering of the number of posts in the Group C cadre.

The number of persons in positions, during the same period, decreased from 30.56 lakh to 30.13 lakh. Due to the decline in the number of persons in position and sanctioned posts, the number of vacant posts are also lower, which is about 9.64 lakh going by the latest figures. Otherwise, this figure could have been higher.

According to The Hindu Business Line, the government hopes that there could be a betterment in the situation by the time the next set of data (until March 1, 2023) is released, due to the government’s thrust on improving the employment situation after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced 10 lakh jobs in October last year.

The decrease in sanctioned posts and occupied posts is witnessed across departments. Railways, Defence (Civil), Home Affairs, Posts, and Revenue departments/ministries account for around 92% of Central government jobs.

The Railways, which is the largest provider of Central government jobs, had 11.98 lakh persons in position and 15.07 lakh sanctioned posts as on March 1, 2022. This puts the number of vacancies at around 3 lakh posts.

As for civilian posts under Defence Ministry, out of 5.77 lakh sanctioned posts, the number of occupied posts stand at 3.45 lakh, leaving 2.32 lakh vacancies. Out of 10.90 lakh sanctioned posts in the Home Ministry, 9.69 lakh posts are occupied, and there are 1.20 lakh vacancies.

In the Postal Department, the number of occupied posts and sanctioned posts are 1.64 lakh and 2.64 lakh respectively. There are over 1 lakh vacancies. Under the Revenue Department, there are 1.78 lakh sanctioned posts and 1.04 lakh occupied posts. There are 74,000 vacancies.

It is widely believed that the dipping number of sanctioned posts and regular staff is due to the increasing employment of external outsourcing agencies to fill in the roles of permanent employees. The government’s reliance on outsourcing and contractual staff has gone up over the years.

  [Source: the wire. in]

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Vol 56, No. 5, Jul 30 - Aug 5, 2023