National Recruitment Agency:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi Cabinet approves creation of National Recruitment Agency (NRA), paving the way for a transformational reform in the recruitment process for central government jobs. National Recruitment Agency will be a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act. It will be headed by a Chairman of the rank of the Secretary to the Government of India. The Government has sanctioned a sum of Rs. 1517.57 crore for the National Recruitment Agency (NRA). The expenditure will be undertaken over a period of three years.
Advantages:
Currently Candidates appear for multiple examinations conducted by multiple agencies. Pays multiple times exam fees for different exam and travel long distance many times to appear in exam. NRA will reduce the burden of candidates and recruitment agencies. NRA will bring transparency and ease in recruitment process.
Examination Process:
A multi-agency body called the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) to screen/shortlist candidates for the Group B and C (non-technical) posts. NRA will have representatives of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance/Department of Financial Services, the SSC, RRB & IBPS. NRA will conduct Common eligibility Test (CET) to screening of candidates at the first level for SSC, RRBs and IBPS with the same eligiblity conditions. It will reduce the time of selection process.
Separate computer based online Common Eligibility Test (CET), for the Graduate, the Higher Secondary (12th pass) and the Matriculate (10th Pass) will be conducted.
Initially, NRA will conduct CET twice a year. Registration, Roll Number/Admit card, display of Marks & Merit List etc will be done online. 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. Reservation and relaxation will be given as per the extant policy of the Government.
Pattern of examination will be multiple choice objective type question paper. CET exam would be conducted on a common and standard curriculum. The Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said, besides Hindi and English, tests will be conducted in 12 languages in due course and efforts will be made to include all the languages mentioned in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
Candidates can schedule tests and choose centre. CET to be conducted at over 1000 centres. Every district will have at least one exam centre, including the 117 Aspirational Districts. The location of test centres in every District would benefit candidates from rural areas and women candidates.
Score Card:
CET shall replace Tier 1/preliminary Exam of SSC, Railways, IBPS. Based on the screening done at the CET score level, final selection for recruitment shall be made through separate specialised Tiers (II, III etc) of examination which shall be conducted by the respective recruitment agencies. The CET score of the candidate shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of declaration of the result. Best CET score of Candidates available during three years will be the current score of CET.
Mock Test and Helpline:
NRA will conduct Mock Test for rural youth & 24×7 helpline and grievance redressal portal will be set up for answering queries, complaints and queries.
Other Facility:
CET score can facilitate the employment generation. CET score can be shared with Central Govt., State Govt., UTs, PSU, and Private Sector. This will help organizations to directly recruit.