New Delhi: Close to 10 lakh posts are vacant across Union government ministries and departments, the government has said in an answer to the Lok Sabha.

In a written response to an unstarred question by Trinamool Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi MPs Mala Roy and Nama Nageswara Rao, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions, and in the Prime Minister's Office, Jitendra Singh, said that as on March 1, 2023, there were 964,359 vacant posts across government departments.

Singh wrote that these figures are as per the annual report of the Pay Research Units of the Department of Expenditure.

The MPs had asked the Prime Minister for:

a) details of the total vacant posts that existed in government departments, including corporations and other government agencies across the country during the past 10 years as on June 30, 2023.

(b) whether all the vacancies were filled up during the past ten years, if so, the details thereof, year-wise and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(c) the action taken/proposed to be taken to fill up all the vacancies and the time by which the recruitment will be completed?

Singh's reply said that the central ministries, departments, central public sector undertakings, autonomous bodies (including health and education institutes, public sector banks, etc.) recruit employees "either directly or through recruitment agencies" like the Staff Selection Commission, Union Public Service Commission, Railway Recruitment Board, Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, etc.

The response claimed that the "filling up of vacant posts in various ministries and departments is a continuous process."

"As part of Rozgar Mela, the vacant posts are being filled in a Mission Mode. Rozgar Mela events are being held across the country and the new appointees are being inducted into various Central Ministries/ Departments/ Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs)/ Autonomous Bodies/ Public Sector Banks etc.," the reply said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently appeared at a publicised 'Rozgar Mela' or 'income fair' and distributed appointment letters to over 70,000 people selected for various government jobs.

The Department of Personnel and Training, the response said, has been directing ministries and departments of the Union government, "from time to time, to fill up vacant posts in a time bound manner."

Singh's response did not contain year-wise details of how vacancies were filled, something that the MPs had asked for.

Unemployment continues to be a major issue ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In 2017, India's unemployment rate reached a 45-year high at 6.1% in 2017. It was at 8.11% as of April 2023 according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

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