New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) The total number of vacant posts in the Indian Railways is 2,98,428, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.

"The railways is having online recruitment and the process of recruitment is being expedited," he said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

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A total of 1,40,713 vacancies, including 20,944 vacancies for the Scheduled Castes and 10,930 vacancies for the Scheduled Tribes, are presently under recruitment for level-1 to level-7, the railways minister stated.

In December last year, the national transporter had to suspend its NTPC and Level 1 tests after violent protests by job aspirants over the selection process of its recruitment exams.

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The recruitment drive for the Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPCs) for 35,281 vacant posts in various categories, ranging from junior clerk, train assistant, guard, time-keeper to station master, was at the centre of widespread protests in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.

The aspirants alleged that while over seven lakh “applications” were shortlisted, the actual number of candidates was around 3.84 lakh as the same person might have been shortlisted for more than one post.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)