The Union cabinet has approved the creation of the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to conduct an online common eligibility test for selecting candidates for a majority of central government jobs, an official statement said on Wednesday.
The NRA will conduct a separate common eligibility test each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary (Class XII pass) and matriculate (Class X pass) candidates for non-technical posts to which recruitment is currently carried out by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).
Based on the screening done at the common eligibility test (CET), the final selection will be made through separate specialised tiers of examination that will be conducted by the respective recruitment agencies, a government statement said.
Information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said the “historic decision” would allow job-seekers to take one common test, and save costs and time spent on writing multiple exams.
“The curriculum for this test would be common as would be the standard. This would greatly ease the burden of candidates who are at present required to prepare for each of the examinations separately as per different curriculum,” the statement issued by the personnel ministry said.
The NRA will set up examination centres in every district to help youths, especially women, from rural and far-flung areas as they will not be required to travel to another place to take recruitment tests, the statement issued by the personnel ministry said.
At present, “candidates have to appear in multiple examinations conducted by multiple agencies. Apart from the examination fees, candidates have to incur additional expenses for travel, boarding, lodging. A single examination will reduce the financial burden on candidates to a large extent,” it said.
On average, up to 3 crore candidates appear in each of these examinations.
“The NRA will conduct the first-level/Tier I examination, which is the stepping stone for many other selections. The CET score of the candidate shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of declaration of the result,” the statement said.
There shall be no restriction on the number of attempts to be taken by a candidate to appear in the CET subject to the upper age limit, the statement said.
“Relaxation in the upper age limit shall be given to candidates of SC/ST/OBC and other categories as per the extant policy of the government,” it said.
Candidates will have the facility of registering on a common portal and give a choice of centres. Based on availability, they will be allotted centres.
“The CET would be available in a number of languages. This would greatly facilitate people from different parts of the country to take the exam and have an equal opportunity of being selected,” it said. A single eligibility test would significantly reduce the recruitment cycle, the statement said.
“Some departments have indicated their intention to do away with any second level test and go ahead with recruitment on the basis of CET scores, physical tests and medical examination. This would greatly reduce the cycle and benefit a large section of youths,” the statement added.
