Railway Protective Force (RPF)

The Indian Railway Protection Force (IRPF or RPF), formed in the year 1957, is an Indian Central Armed Police Force charged with protecting the Indian Railways and its passengers. It is one of the Group 'A' Central Civil Service of India functions under the Ministry of Railways to deal with offences related to roof traveling, touting, unauthorized entry into coaches earmarked for ladies, unauthorized vending, trespass etc. The primary duties and functions of the Railway Protection Force include: • To do all conducive means for the free movement of the railways. • Protection and safeguarding of railway property. • Protection and safeguarding of passenger, their belongings and passenger areas. • Assist the state police in maintenance of law and order in various states at the time of elections and other emergencies. • Coordinates with the civil police and GRP (Government Railway police of the respective states) in controlling crime against railway passenger. The RPF have a specially trained unit called the Railway Protective Special Force (RPSF), to be raised as a reserve force on the battalion pattern. With good pay scale compensations and adequate facilities, Railway Protection Force offer a grand opportunity for all those who are ambitious enough to adopt Railway Policing as their career option. Those interested to take up RPF as their career can join this force by applying through Railway Protection Force Recruitment which are conducted annually. Rank Structure in Railway Protection Force The rank structure of Superior Officers in RPF force is as follows. The selection to these posts are through UPSC exams • Director General • Additional Director General • Chief Security Commissioner (Inspector-General; Additional Inspector-General; Deputy Inspector-General) • Additional or Deputy Chief Security Commissioner • Senior Divisional Security Commissioner • Divisional Security Commissioner • Assistant Security Commissioner Enrolled Members of the Force : • Inspector • Sub-Inspector • Assistant Sub-Inspector • Head Constable • Naik • Constables • Cook/ sweeper / Driver / Fire Extinguisher • Ancillary staff (The selection to these posts are through Railway Protection Force Recruitment) Service Benefits in RPF Every member on appointment to the Force either by direct recruitment or by promotion shall be on probation for a period of two years. On successful completion of the period of probation or any extension thereof, a member of the Force shall be retained in his appointment on regular basis and be confirmed in due course against the available substantive vacancy. During the period of probation or any extension thereof, a member of the Force may be required by the appointing authority to undergo any courses of training and instructions and to pass such examinations and tests as may be specified by it for satisfactory completion of the probation. Promotion Recruitment of superior officers and promotion to the rank of Assistant Commandants and from one rank of superior officer to the other rank of superior officers shall be made in accordance with the Railway Protection Force (Group ‘A’ and ‘B’ Posts) Recruitments Rules, 1981, as amended from time to time. Promotion of member of the Force upto rank of Commandant shall be made on the basis of merit having due regard to seniority. Promotion to rank higher than that of the Commandant shall be made on the basis of merit only. Perks & Allowances • Provident fund • Gratuity • Pension • Medical facilities • Pass and Privilege Ticket Orders • Educational assistance • Traveling and transfer allowance • Other financial matters Recruitment Process in Railway Protective Force (RPF) Direct recruitment to the RPF shall be made at the level of Constables, Sub Inspector and Assistant Commandants and all other posts shall be filled in by promotion or through a limited departmental compensation from amongst the eligible enrolled members of the Force or by taking personnel on deputation in accordance with the rules. The recruitment process of Railway Protection Force includes different stages like • Physical Measurement • Physical Efficiency Test • Written Examination • Viva-Voce Test • Documents Verification • Medical Examination Ineligibility : No person- (a) who is not a citizen of India, or (b) who has entrusted into or contracted a marriage with a person having a spouse living, or (c) who having a spouse living, has entered into or contracted a marriage with any person, Shall be eligible for appointment as member of the Force Recruitment Process for Sub Inspector | Constable Sub Inspector Recruitment Process The recruitment of SIs in RPF/ RPSF shall be made by a central Recruitment Committee consisting of four Chief Security Commissioners/ Addl CSC's nominated by the DG/ RPF. Eligibility : • Citizenship - Must be a citizen of India • Education - Graduate from a recognised university • Age - Not less than 20 years and not more than 25 years as on 1st January of the year for the posts. Relaxation in upper age limit will be admissible to SC/ ST / OBC, Ex-Servicemen and Central Government Employees as per extant instruction of the Central Government • Physical measurement Category Height- male (cms) Chest unexpanded- male (cms) Height- female (cms) UR/ OBC 165 80 157 SC/ ST 160 76.2 152 For Garhwalis, Gorkhas, Kumaonese, Dogras, Marathas; persons hailing from Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Ladakh, Kashmir Valley and North Eastern states subject to production of domicile certificate from the District magistrate/ SDM/ Tehsildar and other categories specified by Govt. from time to time. 163 80 155 Recruitment Procedure : The recruitment shall be held in three phases : Physical Efficiency Test (PET) Those who qualifies the eligibility criteria of will be put to a PET (Physical Efficiency Test ). 1500 mts being compulsory will be the first event to be conducted. Only those who qualify in 1500 mts race shall be measured for height and chest. The candidates who fulfill the prescribed physical standards relating to height and chest will be subjected to other Physical Efficiency Test. The minimum qualification standards for male Candidates are : Event General Ex. Servicemen No. of Chances 1600 m. race 5 min. 40 sec. 7 min One 200 m. race 28 sec. 35 sec. One High Jump 3 ft. 9 inch 3ft Two Broad Jump 13 ft. 11 ft. Two Shot Put (Wt. 16 lbs) 20 ft. 17 ft. Two Female Candidates have to qualify in both the events. The minimum qualification standards for female Candidates are : 400 m. race 2 minute Long Jump 8 ft. Candidates qualifying in PET will have to undergo Physical measurement. Those who qualifies in Phase I shall be called for the written examination. Written Examination The 2 hour written test will consist of 120 multiple choice objective type questions. The question paper shall be of graduation standard with maximum marks of 120 and will be bilingual (English and Hindi). Four sets of question papers shall be prepared each having the same questions which shall be differently serial numbered. It will consist of questions in general intelligence, arithmetic, language and general awareness, each with 30 questions. Viva-Voce The Viva-Voce will carry 15 marks. The purpose of the interview will be to evaluate the candidates general awareness, power of comprehension, expression, personality, experience etc. The candidates called for viva voce must have to produce their original documents in support of their education, age, SC/ ST/ OBC status where applicable, domicile and any other extra curricular activities (including (NCC). Failure to produce the documents will lead to disqualification of the candidate. Constable Recruitment Process The recruitment of constables in RPF/ RPSF shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions contained in RPF rules, 1987 as amended from time to time at least once in two years. 10% of the vacancies shall be filled up by female candidates and 10% are reserved for ex-servicemen. Vacancies shall be notified to the local employment exchange/ central employment exchange , various national newspapers and the employment news/ rozgar samachar and also be placed on the website of Indian and Zonal Railways. The recruitment shall be conducted by a committee or committees each consisting of four senior scale/ JAG officers (one each belonging to UR, SC/ST, OBC and Minority Community) The constable recruitment is conducted in groups of zones/ RPSF as under : Group 1 NR, NWR, NCR, NER, RPSF Group 2 ECR, ER, SER, NFR, RPSF Group 3 ECoR, SECR, WCR, WR, RPSF Group 4 SR, SWR, SCR, CR, RPSF Eligibility : • Citizenship - Must be a citizen of India • Education - Matriculation or equivalent from a recognized Board/ University. Educational certificate other than State Board/Central Board should be accompanied with Govt. of India notification declaring that such qualification is equivalent to Matriculation / 10th Class pass for service under Central Govt. or ITI • Age - Not less than 18 years and not more than 25 years as on 1st July of the year for the posts. Relaxation in upper age limit upto 5 years will be admissible to SC/ ST / those who had ordinarily been domiciled in the Kashmir division of the state of J & Kand and upto 3 years to OBC candidates Recruitment Procedure : Selection process of the constables in RPF consists of : Physical Efficiency Test (PET) Those who qualifies the eligibility criteria of RPF will be put to a PET (Physical Efficiency Test ). The PET will consist of three events. No marks shall be awarded. It will be qualifying standard for each event specified as : Event Male Female No. of Chances 1600 m. race 5 min. 45 sec. NA One 800 m. race NA 3 min. 40 sec. One High Jump 3 ft. 9 inch 3ft Two Long Jump 14 ft. 9 ft. Two Candidates qualifying in PET will have to undergo Physical measurement as specified below : Physical measurement Category Height- male (cms) Chest unexpanded- male (cms) Chest expanded- male (cms)* Height- female (cms) UR/ OBC 165 80 85 157 SC/ ST 160 76.2 81.2 152 Hillmen ** 163 80 85 155 * A minimum expansion of 5cms in chest is essential ** For Garhwalis, Gorkhas, Kumaonese, Dogras, Marathas; persons hailing from Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Ladakh, Kashmir Valley and North Eastern states subject to production of domicile certificate from the District magistrate/ SDM/ Tehsildar and other categories specified by Govt. from time to time. Those who qualifies both in PET event and in physical measurement will be recorded as 'PASS' in the PET sheet and they have to appear for the written examination. Written Examination The written examination shall be on OMR based Answer Sheets which will comprise of 120 multiple choice objective type questions of one mark each. The test will be of 90 minutes duration. The question paper will be of matriculation standard .The question paper will consist of 35 questions on General Intelligence & Reasoning, 35 questions on Arithmetic and 50 questions on General Awareness. Candidates will be required to answer all the questions. Each correct answer will be awarded 1 (one) mark and 1(one) mark will be deducted for 4 (four) incorrect answers. No marks shall be awarded or deducted for questions not attempted. A candidate must obtain atleast 35% marks (30% in case of SC/ST candidates) in the written examination for being considered for other test (s). For the constable recruitment Trade Test will be conducted in respective categories. The Trade Test will consist of 50 marks. The Trade Test is purely qualifying in nature and Candidates will have to secure minimum 50% marks to qualify the Trade Test. Marks obtained in Trade Test will not be added to the written examination marks for preparation of final list of selected candidates. Document Verification Only the applicants who qualify in the Written Examination, PMT/PET and Trade Test will be called for document verification. The candidates must produce all original documents in support of their educational qualification, Age, SC/ST/OBC status wherever applicable on the format prescribed in the advertisement; domicile and any other extra curricular activities including NCC at the time of document verification .Request for production of the original documents on a later date will not be entertained under any circumstances. Bonus Marks (maximum 5 marks) Bonus marks are allotted as under: (i) NCC B Certificate of NCC-01 Mark C Certificate of NCC-02 Marks Maximum Marks for NCC certificate is 02. Benefit is available only on production of Original Certificate .This benefit is not available to Ex-servicemen. (ii) Sports : Represented University at inter university sports: 01 Marks Represented State at interstate sports: 2 marks Represented India at international sports meet-03 Marks Medal winner at national level sports meet- 03 Marks (iii) Height: A male applicant whose height is 178 cms or more and a female applicant whose height is 165 cms or more will be given 03 marks as bonus. (iv) Total bonus Marks for all categories put together shall not exceed 5. Medical Examination The candidates who are finally selected will be sent for medical examination at a Railway Hospital. They have to qualify in Medical category ‘B-I’ as per Indian Railway Medical Manual. Those wearing glasses or having flat foot, knock knee, squint eye, colour blindness and other bodily defects are not eligible for appointment. The candidates found fit after medical examination shall be directed to the concerned training centre decided by the Railway Administration in the event of their selection. The trainee recruits will be given a stipend plus other allowances as admissible under the Railway Rules during the period of training. Passing the Final Examination at the end of the training is a must.