Cabinet approves setting up national recruitment agency.
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for establishment of National Recruitment Agency (NRA) which will conduct computer based common eligibility test for central government jobs.
Addressing a press conference here, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said it is one of the most landmark reforms in independent India.
"It will bring ease of recruitment, selection, job placement and ease of living particularly for certain sections of society which are at a disadvantage on one account or the other," he said.
He said merit list through the test will remain valid for three years during which the candidate can apply for jobs in different sectors depending upon his aptitude and preferences.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said the decision will benefit job seeking youth of the country.
C Chandramouli, Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training, said that there are more than 20 recruitment agencies in central government.
He said preliminary exam of three recruitment agencies was being made common and in course of time there will be common eligibility test for other recruitment agencies.
With this, the preliminary exam for all non-gazetted posts, comprising Group B and C (non-technical) posts, will be held in common. Candidates who qualify the preliminary exam will apply to the respective recruitment agency for higher level of examination. On an average, 2.5 crore to 3 crore candidates appear in each of these exams.
The validity of the test score will be for three years and there will be no bar on the number of attempts subject to the upper age limit.
The NRA will have representatives from the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Finance/Department of Financial Services, the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) and the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).
It is envisioned that the NRA would be a specialist body bringing the state-of-the-art technology and best practices in the field of Central government recruitment, an official statement said.
In the long run, the CET score could be shared with other recruiting agencies in the Central government, state governments/Union Territories, Public Sector Undertakings and Private Sector, Mr Singh said.
This, he said, would help them save costs and time spent on recruitment.
The government has sanctioned a sum of Rs 1,517.57 crore for setting up the National Recruitment Agency (NRA), which will be headquartered in Delhi.
It will have a chairman of the rank of a Secretary to the government.
The expenditure will be undertaken over a period of three years. Apart from setting up the NRA, the costs will be incurred on setting up examination infrastructure in the 117 aspirational districts, the statement said.
Mr Singh said the initial plan is to set up 1,000 exam centres across the country for conducting this common test.
The National Recruitment Agency (NRA) was first proposed by the government in the union budget 2020. The agency will be an independent, professional, specialist organisation and will conduct an exam, which would be known as the Common Eligibility Test, for selection to government jobs, it had said then.
On June 25, Union Minister Jitendra Singh had said that the proposal for establishment of this agency is at an advanced stage.
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