National Recruitment Agency

On August 19, 2020, the Union Cabinet headed by PMO India, Hon. Mr. Narendra Modi, approves to set up National Recruitment Agency as an independent authority for conducting entrance exam for government jobs. In the month of February, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman announced for setting up of such agency for CET exams. This common body is mainly set up as a reform in the recruitment process of government jobs. This will enable all the candidates applying for government jobs to overcome the issue of multiple examinations and multiple fee payments which will lessen the financial burden form the candidates. It will enable the candidates to attempt for one common exam and apply for various central government jobs.

Overview:

Scheme Objectives:

• The main objective of this agency is to conduct one single examination for various central government jobs
• It aims to create a common base criterion for candidate selection
• This agency aims to provide the students to clear CET examination as one stop instead of various examinations for different organizations
• It will enable the students to attempt examination multiple times over a span of 3 years

Benefits:

• This scheme will benefit the job aspirants to study for one single examination for various sectors
• It will help to lessen the fee burden form the students, which otherwise is huge while applying for various examinations at various organizations
• It will relieve the students from the venue issues and transportation as well, which otherwise would arise every other time while applying for various posts.
• It will enable the candidates to study properly as per one single syllabus thereby increasing the productivity.

Functioning of National Recruitment Agency:

• National Recruitment Agency will conduct one single Common Entrance Test for recruitment in Central Government sector
• The NRA will conduct Tier 1 examinations online
• Examination centres will be set up in each district.
• Exam will be conducted in 12 different languages
• A common curriculum/syllabus will be the base of examination
• There will be common registration and single fee while applying for the exam
• Centre will be available in the respective district and thus the candidate will not be required to move out of the district to give the exam
• A standardized question bank with MCQs will be created in the central server so as to reduce the no. of paper leaks and cheating in the exam
• The registration will e available for 3 years and candidate is allowed to give multiple tests within that time span with no additional charges
• There is no limit on the no. of attempts over a time span of these 3 years
• Out of all the attempts only the maximum score will be considered
• Age factor will be an important criterion as before
• Examination will be conducted once in a year, as of now.

Key Points:

• This is a historic and much needed decision made in the national recruitment sector
• Common Examination Test for various central government jobs is a boon for candidates
• Currently 3 sectors are included under the NRA which are – Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS)
• It is planned to eventually cover all the central government recruitment’s under this agency.
• This single test will enable quick recruitment process thereby enabling quicker placements to candidates
• Central government has sanctioned Rs. 1517.57 cores for NRA
• Setting up examination centres in 117 districts will also undertaken under central government.
• Thus, setting up of the National Recruitment Agency is a huge recruitment reform thereby benefiting the candidates on all fronts.
• A press release has also been published for major outreach to candidates about this reform @ pib.gov.in