To streamline the recruitment process for non-gazetted posts in the central government and public sector banks, Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved setting up the National Recruitment Agency. The new agency will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) for all the competitive exams.
The move will streamline the recruitment process for government jobs, and will also help put in place a single national exam for all government jobs at a time. The agency will conduct a single entrance exam for various vacancies that the government advertises every year.
The current recruitment model comprises several exams by different recruitment agencies. NRA will act as a multi-agency body to encompass the first level test currently conducted by agencies like Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and the Institute of Banking Service Personnel (IBPS).
National Recruitment Agency will shortlist qualifying candidates from the bulk of applicants and forward the list to SSC, IBPS, etc, to hold the mains.
The new agency will be an “independent, professional, specialist organisation and will conduct an exam, which would be known as the Common Eligibility Test
The proposal for the National Recruitment Agency was first introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2020.
More about National Recruitment Agency (NRA) and Common Eligibility Test (CET)
- The National Recruitment Agency agency will conduct an entrance test for Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) and Railway Recruitment Board (RRB).
- NRA will conduct preliminary exams for the hiring of non-gazetted, non-technical and clerical posts in the government along with various equivalent recruitment in public sector banks through a Common Eligibility Test.
- A multi-agency body will conduct a separate CET each for the three levels – Graduate, 12th pass and 10th pass candidates.
- On the basis of the CET score level, final selection for recruitment will be done through separate specialised exams which will be conducted by the respective recruitment agencies.
- The score of CET will be valid for three years.
- No restriction will be put on the number of attempts to be taken by a candidate to appear in the CET subject to the upper age limit.
- Common Eligibility Test would enable the candidates to appear once and apply to any or all of these recruitment agencies for the higher level of exam.
- The curriculum for this test would be common as would be the standard.
- Candidates would have the facility of registering on a common portal and give a choice of centres.
- The CET would be available in a number of languages.
- The NRA will set up examination centres in every district of the country.
With a single common entrance test, candidates will no longer need to spend money to fill up different applications for different jobs. Besides, the cost of travelling for different exams will also be saved.