National Recruitment Agency | UPSC
HEADLINES:
Cabinet approves setting up of National Recruitment Agency to conduct Common Eligibility Test
WHY IN NEWS:
Cabinet approves creation of National Recruitment Agency (NRA), paving the way for a transformational reform in the recruitment process for central government jobs
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3 : Human Resource : Education
LEARNING:
For PRELIMS go through the important features of NRA , Exam guidelines and Procedure .
For MAINS make awesome answer on this topic . This can surely help you on a longer run . Let us dive in!
CONTEXT:
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
- Common eligibility Test (CET) to screen candidates at the first level for SSC, RRBs and IBPS
- CET: A computer based online Common Eligibility Test (CET) for the Graduate, the Higher Secondary (12thpass) and the Matriculate (10th Pass) candidates as a path-breaking reform.
- CET in Every District: Ease of Access to Rural youth, women and disadvantaged candidates.
- Uniform Transformative Recruitment Process
- Multiplicity of Exams Out
- Robust use of ICT to Eradicate Malpractices
- A first stage screening of eligible candidates
- CET to reduce Recruitment Cycle
- NRA to conduct Mock Test for rural youth
NRA to have mock tests, 24×7 helpline and grievance redressal portal
RECRUITMENT REFORM
- At present, candidates seeking government jobs have to appear for separate examinations conducted by multiple recruiting agencies for various posts.
- Candidates have to pay fee to multiple recruiting agencies and also have to travel long distances for appearing in various exams.
- These multiple recruitment examinations are a burden on the candidates, as also on the respective recruitment agencies
- On an average, 2.5 crore to 3 crore candidates appear in each of these examinations.
- This would indeed be a boon to all the candidates.
NATIONAL RECRUITMENT AGENCY (NRA)
- A multi-agency body called the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) to screen/shortlist candidates.
- NRA will have representatives of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance/Department of Financial Services, the SSC, RRB & IBPS.
- It is envisioned that the NRA would be a specialist body bringing the state-of-the-art technology and best practices to Central Government recruitment.
ACCESS TO EXAMINATION CENTRES
- Examination Centres in every District of the country would greatly enhance access to the candidates located in far-flung areas.
- Special focus will be on creating examination infrastructure in the 117 Aspirational Districts.
- It will motivate the rural candidates residing in the far-flung areas to take the up Central Government jobs.
MAJOR RELIEF TO POOR CANDIDATES
- Presently, the candidates have to appear in multiple examinations conducted by multiple agencies.
- A single examination would reduce the financial burden on candidates to a large extent.
WOMEN CANDIDATES TO BENEFIT GREATLY
- Women candidates especially from rural areas face constraints in appearing in multiple examinations.
- They sometimes have to find suitable persons to accompany them to these Centres that are located far away.
- The location of test centres in every District would greatly benefit candidates from rural areas in general and women candidates in particular.
BONANZA FOR CANDIDATES FROM RURAL AREAS
- Given the financial and other constraints, the candidates have a choice as to which examination they want to appear in.
- NRA will conduct the first-level /Tier I Examination which is the stepping stone for many other selections.
CET SCORE VALIDITY
- 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.
- Relaxation in the upper age limit shall be given to candidates of SC/ST/OBC and other categories as per the extant policy of the Government.
SCHEDULING TESTS AND CHOOSING CENTRES
- Candidates would have the facility of registering on a common portal and give a choice of Centres.
- Based on availability, they would be allotted Centres.
MULTIPLE LANGUAGES
- The CET would be available in a number of languages.
- This would greatly facilitate people from different parts of the country to take the exam .
SCORES – ACCESS TO MULTIPLE RECRUITMENT AGENCIES
- Initially the scores would be used by the three major recruitment agencies.
- However, over a period of time it is expected that other recruitment agencies in the Central Government would adopt the same.
- Thus, in the long run, the CET score could be shared with other recruiting agencies in the Central Government, State Governments.
- This would help such organizations in saving costs and time spent on recruitment.
SHORTENING THE RECRUITMENT CYCLE
- A single eligibility test would significantly reduce the recruitment cycle.
- Some Departments have indicated their intention to do away with any second level test .
- This would greatly reduce the cycle and benefit a large section of youth.
FINANCIAL OUTLAY
- The Government has sanctioned a sum of Rs. 1517.57 crore for the National Recruitment Agency (NRA).
- Apart from setting up the NRA, costs will be incurred for setting up examination infrastructure in the 117 Aspirational Districts.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- NRA shall conduct a separate CET each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary (12th pass) and the matriculate (10th pass) candidates for those non-technical posts.
- Based on the screening done at the CET score level.
- The curriculum for this test would be common as would be the standard.
SOURCES:THE HINDU & PIB | National Recruitment Agency
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