In digital age, railway job hopefuls use typewriters

Looks like the future is of the typewriters is not all that gloomy. Going by the incursions of intelligence agencies into electronic message exchanges, which is becoming a serious issue between sovereign nations, the governments may actually go back to the non-digital ways of exchanging sensitive information, as shown by the Russian and the Indian government recently. Indian Railways, a public sector organization, which is more than 150 years old now requires its job candidates to be proficient in typewriting, as this report in the Times Of India states:

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CHENNAI: As Aman Kumar typed away furiously on a rusty typewriter near a railway school at Ayanavaram on Saturday, a crowd gathered. But the 31-year-old was oblivious to everything except attaining the target of 30 words a minute on the rusty old machine he had brought all the way from Patna. There were many more like him at the ground.

At a time when even desktop computers are being inched out by laptops and tablets, railways tests candidates' typing skills, required to secure a job as junior accountant and senior clerk, on typewriters. And the candidates have to bring their typewriters.

Hundreds of candidates from across the country have arrived in the city, some lugging machines in huge bags and others carrying them on the shoulder. "I rented this machine from an institute near my house. This is a new city and I had a tough time finding the venue. Getting around the city with this large bag is difficult," said Kumar.

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