Government Approves National Recruitment Agency for Non-Gazetted Government Jobs

Government Approves National Recruitment Agency for Non-Gazetted Government Jobs

As we have already informed visitors of this blog about a proposal by the Central Government for Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Non-Gazetted vacancy posts.  This proposal was formally announced by the finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while delivering Union Budget 2020-21 in Loksabha on 1st February 2020, that a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) is proposed to conduct a computer-based CET for recruitment to non-gazetted posts.

Now, yesterday (19th August 2020), the government come with a formal announcement of  setting up of National Recruitment Agency. 

The Union Cabinet approved setting up of National Recruitment Agency which will conduct Common Eligibility Test (CET) to replace multiple examinations for recruitment to Central Government Jobs Examination to be held in 12 Indian languages.

Union Cabinet approves setting up of 'National Recruitment Agency' to conduct Common Eligibility Test. This decision will benefit job seeking youth of the country: Union Minister Prakash Javadekar pic.twitter.com/oSbo1sIAus

— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2020

As we have already welcomed this step when first announced in the annual budget speech, this setting up of NRA will make Ease-of-Doing (EoD) for recruitment examination administration and for government job seekers as well. 


At present, candidates seeking government jobs have to appear for separate examinations conducted by multiple recruiting agencies for various posts.

Candidates have to pay an application fee to multiple recruiting agencies and also have to travel long distances for appearing in various exams. 

Approximately 1.25 lakh government jobs are advertised every year for which 2.5 crore job aspirants appear in various examinations. 

A common eligibility Test would enable these candidates to appear once and apply to any or all of these recruitment agencies for the higher level of examination

Modi Government Made Bold Decision

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has expressed happiness in his tweet over setting up of National Recruitment Agency.

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

Modi Government has taken may initiatives related to Government Jobs administration since his government came into power in 2014 and again re-elected in 2019.

Some of the important decisions taken by the Modi government for government jobs are - 

• No Personal Interview for candidates for Non-Gazetted Vacancy posts
• The government initiated a big special recruitment drive for Physically Handicapped in Government Jobs
• Permanent Commission is granted to Women candidates in Indian Navy and Indian Army
• OBC Reservation Creamy Lay Ceiling increased
• Aadhar made mandatory in Railway, SBI and other recruitments
• 10% Reservation provided to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) candidates
• Some of the dubious character officers having corruption charged terminated from services
• Withdrawal of the application made available in all UPSC Recruitment Examinations
• The government recognized Transgender as separate sex in the application form and allowed transgenders to be recruited in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF)
• Announcement of Common Eligibility Test for Non-Gazetted vacancies

The existing Central Government recruiting agencies like SSC, RRBs,&IBPS would continue to conduct domain-specific examinations/tests as per their requirement.

The NRA will conduct only the preliminary screening of candidates through the CET. Based on the score obtained in the CET conducted by NRA, candidates may appear in the domain-specific examinations/tests to be conducted by SSC, RRBs & IBPS respectively for the actual recruitment.

Now setting of National Recruitment Agency (NRA) for the common recruitment examination for almost all non-gazetted government jobs in Central Government, the government has achieved one more feather in its cap.

The Proposed feature of the CET by NRA

• The Common Eligibility Test will be held twice a year. 
• There will be different CETs for Graduate level, 12th Pass level, and 10th pass level to facilitate recruitment to vacancies at various levels. 
• The CET will be conducted in 12 major Indian languages. This is a major change, as hitherto examinations for recruitment to Central Government jobs were held only in English and Hindi.
• To begin with, CET will cover recruitments made by three agencies: viz. Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) and the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS). This will be expanded in a phased manner. 
• CET will be held in 1000 centers across India in a bid to remove the currently prevalent urban bias. There will be an examination center in every district of the country. There will be a special thrust on creating examination infrastructure in the 117 aspirational districts. 
• CET will be a first level test to shortlist candidates and the score will be valid for three years. 
• 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. Age relaxation for SC/ST and OBC candidates as per existing rules will apply. 

Advantages for Government Job Seekers 

• Removes the hassle of appearing in multiple examinations. 
• Single examination fees would reduce the financial burden that multiple exams imposed. 
• Since exams will be held in every district, it would substantially save travel and lodging costs for the candidates. 
• Examination in their own district would encourage more and more women candidates also to apply for government jobs. 
• Applicants are required to register on a single Registration portal. No need to worry about the clashing of examination dates. 

Advantages for Institutions

• Removes the hassle of conducting preliminary / screening tests of candidates. 
• Drastically reduces the recruitment cycle. Brings standardization in the examination pattern. Reduces costs for different recruiting agencies. Rs.600 crore savings expected. 

Setup of National Recruitment Agency (NRA)

National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will be a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act.

NRA will be headed by a Chairman of the rank of the Secretary to the Government of India. It will have representatives of the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance/Department of Financial Services, the SSC, RRB & IBPS.

The government has sanctioned a sum of ₹1517.57 crores for the National Recruitment Agency (NRA). The expenditure will be undertaken over a period of three years.

It is envisioned that the NRA would be a specialist body bringing the state-of-the-art technology and best practices to the field of Central Government recruitment. 

Conclusion

We at, SarkariNaukriBlog welcome this move of the government. There should also be some thought process about common recruitment examination for similar kinds of exams being conducted by various Public Service Commissions (PSC) in every state of India.