NEW DELHI: The occurrence and filling up of vacancies is a continuous process for railways">Indian Railways considering its size, spatial distribution and criticality of operation.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha said that the recruitments are periodically done anticipating vacancies and the needs on the ground considering new services, new technologies, mechanisation and new systems that are being done.

2,94,115 vacancies have been filled up in the last five years up to September 30, 2023, Vaishnaw added.

The requirement of manpower in different categories also differs based on changes in priorities and technology upgrades.

Hence, Railways has a dynamic process for identifying vacancies to be filled up and fills up the same in a continual manner. The vacancies are filled up primarily by the placement of indents by Railways with recruitment agencies as per operational requirements.

Earlier on Thursday, Vaishnaw said that India will soon reach one trillion dollars in exports while lauding the 'Make in India' project started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"We will soon be ready for USD 1 trillion in exports and the foundation behind this is manufacturing,'' said Vaishnaw.

Slamming the opposition for criticising the 'Make in India' project, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "When PM Modi launched 'Make in India', it was a very bold step. The opposition constantly criticised it. If you look at the manifesto of the Congress party at that time, they also talked about 'Make in India'. But when PM Modi did this, Congress criticised it".

Vaishnaw said that exports have reached USD 762 billion in the last financial year and the reason behind it is 'Make in India'.

"The success of 'Make in India', 'Design in India' and the series of programmes that followed is a reason behind India's export success. The exports reached USD 762 billion in the last financial year, he added.