Indian Railways scraps minimum qualification criterion for compassionate job openings

The person being considered will have to be fit for the position and worth being trained on the job.

In any government job, there is a requirement of a minimum educational qualification even if the job is given on compassionate grounds.

Indian Railways, the national railway system operated by the Ministry of Railways, also had a minimum educational qualification criterion when it came to giving jobs to the wives or widows of its employees, who died in service or retired for medical reasons.
However, it has now done away with this rule.
Indian Railways will now take into account whether people are fit for various positions and whether their inadequacies can be corrected with on-the-job training.

According to the Railway Board, there were a lot of queries from zonal railways about cases wherein the wife or the widow of the employee lacked the minimum required qualification—Class 10— for Level-1 or Group D jobs on compassionate grounds.

After deliberating on the queries for some time, the Board decided to scrap the rule for mandatory minimum educational qualification.

“The matter was under consideration of this Ministry for quite some time. It has now been decided that in case of appointment of a wife not having requisite minimum educational qualification she will be placed in the Level – I of the pay matrix without insisting on fulfilment of educational qualification norms,” The Railway Board said.

From now on the emphasis will be more on on-the-job training. The appointing authority will evaluate whether the duties of the post against which the appointment is being made can be performed by the candidate.