Over 8.23 lakh posts lie vacant in Central govt. departments, shows RTI response
An RTI response reveals that over 8.23 lakh civilian posts remain vacant across various Central government departments in India as of March 2024. The Ministry of Defence and Indian Railways account for the majority of these unfilled positions.
Why it matters
High vacancy rates in government sectors often correlate with public concerns regarding unemployment and administrative efficiency.
More than 8.23 lakh sanctioned civilian posts are lying vacant in several Union government Ministries, as per official data shared in a Right to Information (RTI) response, with just two Ministries — Defence (civilian establishments) and Railways — making for more than 58% of the total vacancies.
As per an RTI reply by the Pay Research Unit (PRU) under the Union Finance Ministry’s Department of Expenditure, the estimated sanctioned strength of civilian regular posts in 80 Central Ministries and departments is 39,23,212, while only 30,99,556 posts were filled as on March 1, 2024, with 8,23,556 positions lying vacant.
The application had been filed by Chandra Shekhar Gaur, an RTI activist based in Madhya Pradesh’s Neemuch, and the response was shared on August 19, 2026 with latest available data on the group-wise and status-wise estimated number of Central government civilian regular employees.
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