News Desk: The Union Cabinet approved setting up of a national agency to conduct tests for various central government jobs. The agency will conduct a single entrance exam for tens of thousands of positions that the government advertises every year. The current recruitment model comprises several exams by different recruitment agencies including some by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
The National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will conduct a computer-based online Common Eligibility Test (CET) to screen candidates at the first level for Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and the Institute of Banking Service Personnel (IBPS).
The approval given by the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pave the way for a transformational reform in the recruitment process for central government jobs.
A cabinet statement said, “Further, it would be open for other agencies in the public as well as a private domain to adopt it if they so choose. Thus, in the long run, the CET score could be shared with other recruiting agencies in the Central Government, State Governments/Union Territories, Public Sector Undertaking, and Private Sector. This would help such organizations in saving costs and time spent on recruitment.”
The country may lose 6.1 million jobs in 2020 if the country fails to tackle the pandemic by the end of September, the International Labour Organisation and the Asian Development Bank said in a report on 18 August.
“The National Recruitment Agency will prove to be a boon for crores of youngsters. Through the Common Eligibility Test, it will eliminate multiple tests and save precious time as well as resources. This will also be a big boost to transparency,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi twitted.
The #NationalRecruitmentAgency will prove to be a boon for crores of youngsters. Through the Common Eligibility Test, it will eliminate multiple tests and save precious time as well as resources. This will also be a big boost to transparency. https://t.co/FbCLAUrYmX
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 19, 2020
The union cabinet said CET will work as a screening test, and based on the CET score level, final selection for recruitment shall be made through separate specialized tier one and tier two exams, which shall be conducted by the respective recruitment agencies.
The cabinet said it will spend Rs. 1517.57 crore for the NRA over a three-year period. National entrance will be conducted in various languages each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary and the matriculate candidates and it will strive to have exam centers in all districts to reduce commutation hassles by candidates.