BENGALURU: The department of space (DoS) and Isro have launched one of their widest recruitment drives in recent years, announcing 746 openings across scientists, administrative staff and apprentices over the past week, at least 43 of which are against “backlog vacancies”.The recruitment, spread across three notifications issued between July 27 and July 29, covers 336 regular posts and 410 apprenticeship positions, reflecting an effort to strengthen both the organisation’s immediate workforce and its future talent pipeline.TOI highlighted on July 18 how DoS was battling a 25-year-high vacancy rate with nearly three out of every 10 sanctioned posts lying unfilled at the end of 2025-26 — staffing had fallen to 72.2%, the lowest level in at least 25 years.
The largest chunk of the latest recruitment drive is to fill up 244 Level-4 administrative posts through the Isro Centralised Recruitment Board (ICRB). These include 113 assistants, 81 junior personal assistants, 22 upper division clerks, 10 stenographers, 17 assistants for autonomous institutions and one junior personal assistant for an autonomous institution.The recruitment also includes 92 scientist/engineer ‘SC’ posts in level-10 of the pay matrix. Electronics accounts for the largest share with 34 vacancies, followed by mechanical (26), computer science (13), civil (10), electrical (4), refrigeration & air-conditioning (2), architecture (2) and one civil engineer post at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.Unlike the administrative recruitment, these scientists will be deployed across specialised centres depending on discipline. The notification lists URSC and Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC), Bengaluru; VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram — two of the centres that have seen most attrition in recent years — Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota; SAC, Ahmedabad; NRSC, Hyderabad; LPSC, Valiamala; Isro Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri; Istrac and Isro headquarters in Bengaluru.Alongside permanent recruitment, URSC, Bengaluru, has announced 410 apprenticeship positions for 2026-27. These comprise 220 graduate apprentices, 120 technician apprentices and 70 diploma in commercial practice apprentices.Graduate apprenticeship intake is dominated by electronics and communication engineering (83 positions), followed by mechanical (50), computer science (40), chemical (15), industrial engineering and management (10), aeronautical (10), aerospace (10) and automobile engineering (2). Technician apprenticeships include 38 electronics, 30 computer science, 30 mechanical, 10 electrical, 5 civil, 5 instrumentation and 2 automobile engineering positions.It is noteworthy that Isro hires apprentices to fulfill statutory requirements under the Apprentices Act, 1961, and train fresh graduates. While candidates receive a monthly stipend — for the current positions it is Rs 10,900 for one category and Rs 12,300 for the other — and a certificate and a monthly stipend, but no permanent job is guaranteed.
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The latest recruitment is unlikely to substantially alter DoS’ staffing profile in the immediate future. Even after excluding apprenticeship positions, the 336 regular vacancies now advertised amount to less than 6% of the department’s existing 5,632 vacancies documented earlier this year.Sources in Isro told TOI that the agency had called for some positions, including for junior research fellows, project associates, research associates, technical and scientific assistants aside from 44 apprentices across North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), URSC, Istract and SDSC between June and early July.
