Central govt to hire 2.8 lakh more staff, police, I-T & customs to get lion’s share

NEW DELHI: The Centre in its Budget has provided for the recruitment of around 2.80 lakh more staff.

The income tax department, the agency involved in the drive against black money post-demonetisation, is set to expand from the existing strength of 46,000 to 80,000 by March 2018. Similarly, customs and excise department, which will implement the ambitious goods and services tax regime, will get additional manpower of over 41,000. The current strength of 50,600 for customs and excise staff is to go up to 91,700.

A review of the "estimated strength of establishment" in the Budget annexures indicates no change in the manpower of railways, the single largest employer (13.31 lakh) other than defence, in the three years till 2018. Departments of space, atomic energy, cabinet secretariat and the ministries of information and broadcasting and external affairs are some others where sanctioned strength has gone up significantly.

The government had projected to increase its manpower in 2016 by 1.88 lakh but failed to make fresh recruitments in I-T, customs and central excise departments. This led to an erosion in the employee base by at least 21,000 over the strength in 2015. People superannuating far exceeded new employees.

PM Naredndra Modi's interest in foreign policy has translated into a significant jump in the strength of the foreign ministry where the government has decided to add over 2,000 employees — up from 9,294 in 2016 to 11,403 in 2018. The I&B ministry, too, has increased its sanctioned strength from 4,012 two years ago to 6,258 in 2018. The cabinet secretariat has been strengthened with manpower to go up from 921 to 1,218 by next year.