Hyderabad: Marking a major change in the recruitment process of middle- and lower-level central government jobs, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal to set up the National Recruitment Agency (NRA).
The NRA will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) for recruitment to non-gazetted posts in government and public sector banks. The single online test aims to replace multiple examinations conducted by different recruiting agencies every year for selection to advertised government jobs.
Here’s a detailed look at which category of jobs will be covered by NRA’s CET and how will the recruitment process differ from the current one.
What is NRA?
The Indian government says 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.
NRA will be a registered as a society to be headed by a chairman of the rank of the secretary to the Government of India. It will have representatives of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance/Department of Financial Services, Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).
What will NRA do?
NRA will mainly be responsible for conducting the Common Eligibility Test (CET) to screen or shortlist candidates for non-gazetted posts in government and public sector banks.
How will CET help job seekers?
At present, candidates seeking government jobs have to appear for separate examinations conducted by multiple recruiting agencies for various posts. Candidates also have to pay fee to these multiple recruiting agencies and have to travel long distances for appearing in various exams.
A single online CET would reduce the financial burden on candidates, especially from rural areas, and will also make the process to appear for an exam easier.
Which recruitments will be covered by CET?
To begin with, the CET will cover recruitments made by three agencies -- Staff Selection Commission, Railway Recruitment Board and the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection. This will be expanded in a phased manner. The curriculum for CET would remain common irrespective of the recruitment agency.
For which kind of jobs one can apply if he/she has taken the CET?
Initially, NRA will conduct the CET to shortlist candidates for the Group B (non-gazetted) and Group C (non-technical) posts.
Which jobs come under Group B (non-gazetted) and Group C (non-technical) posts?
The civil service of the central government is organised into four groups -- Group A, B, C and D. Such classification broadly corresponds to the rank, status and the degree of the level of responsibility attached to the posts.
Group B constitute middle management of the ministries/departments and field organisations. For non-gazetted recruitments covered under SSC, RRB and IBPS, it may include vacancies like income tax officers, custom/excise officers, assistant section officers in various ministries, etc.
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Group C posts perform supervisory as well as operative tasks and render clerical assistances in ministries and field organisations. It may include vacancies like head clerks/Section heads, police head constables, typists, tax assistants, telephone operators etc.
What will be the procedure of recruitment under the new process?
Applicants are required to register on a single registration portal. To facilitate recruitment to vacancies at various levels, there will be three different CETs -- graduate level, 12th Pass level and 10th pass level. The CETs will be held twice a year. It will be a first-level test to shortlist candidates.
Candidates with eligible CET scores can then apply to recruitment agencies (SSC, RRB and IBPS) for higher level of examination, after which final selection will be made.
How many times a candidate can appear for CET?
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.
The CET score of a candidate shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of declaration of the result. The best of the valid scores shall be deemed to be the current score of the candidate.
Where will CETs be held?
CET will be held in 1,000 centres across India. There will be an examination centre in every district of the country. There will be a special thrust on creating examination infrastructure in the 117 ‘aspirational’ districts.
In which language will CETs be held?
The CET will be conducted in 12 major Indian languages. This is a major change, as till now examinations for recruitment to central government jobs were held only in English and Hindi.
(ETV Bharat Report)
