Rly job ad sparks row over caste

New Delhi, Nov. 7: A railway vendor, which alluded to caste preferences in its recruitment advertisement, has been ticked off by the IRCTC after severe backlash on the social media.

Brandavan Food Products sought 100 male candidates for three posts — train catering manager, base kitchen manager and store manager.

It said candidates should belong to “Agrawal Vaish Community” and have “good family background”, besides educational qualification of “10+2” in its recruitment advertisement.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Thursday said that the company has removed the human resource personnel who posted the advertisement after severe reprimand.

“Serious view is taken by the IRCTC and the contractor has been asked to refrain giving notice on caste lines but to recruit suitable persons belonging to any caste/creed/religion or region.

“It has been confirmed by the contractor to the IRCTC that the HR manager responsible for the advertisement has since been removed from the job,” a senior railway official said.

The vendor also wrote to the IRCTC apologising for the advertisement and said that it was a “clerical mistake”.

“Two different advertisements were supposed to be placed — one for recruitment of staff in trains and restaurant and another for our social welfare program. Due to clerical mistake this advertisement has been placed publicly...Our objective was not to hurt anyone and to offer jobs to any specific community,” it said.

Netizens lashed out at the ad and said that caste cannot be a yardstick by which a candidate should be judged for a job.