The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the creation of a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) for conducting a common eligibility test for various government jobs.
All you need to know about National Recruitment Agency
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said the Cabinet had taken the “historic” decision at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to benefit crores of young people who applied for jobs every year. About 2.5 crore to 3 crore candidates applied for the 1.25 lakh Group B and C jobs advertised by three agencies every year, with separate schedules and fees.
Test for 3 agencies now
Secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) C. Chandramouli said that to begin with, three of the over 20 Central government recruitment agencies would be brought under the NRA. The preliminary test for the Railway Recruitment Board, the Staff Selection Commission and the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection would be conducted by the NRA, after which the candidates can use the scores to apply to the individual agencies for the next round.
Gradually all Central government recruitment agencies would be brought under the NRA, he said.
Common test for railway, bank, Central government jobs from 2021
“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. This would indeed be a boon to all the candidates”, a government statement said.
Online exam
The exam would be held online and centres would be set up in every district to increase access for candidates, it said.
“The CET score of the 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. 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”, it said.
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes candidates would be given a relaxation in the age limit as per the government’s policy, it said.
The government had sanctioned ₹1,517.57 crore for the NRA for a period of three years, it added.