All you need to know about National Recruitment Agency

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the Union Budget in February to set up an agency to conduct common eligibility test (CET). Till now the candidates have to take different exams that are conducted by various agencies for central government jobs. According to C Chandramouli, Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training, on an average 2.5 crore to 3 crore aspirants appear for about 1.25 lakh vacancies in the central government every year. It is a multi-agency body called National Recruitment Agency (NRA) which will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) to screen the candidates for Central Government jobs and the candidate can apply for a vacancy with the respective agency. The Centre has approved funds to the tune of Rs. 1517.57 crore to set up the National Recruitment Agency. The expenditure will be undertaken over a period of three years. Besides setting up the NRA, the government will also spend on setting up proper examination infrastructure in the nearly 117 districts. The CET would replace the Tier-1 exam that is held by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRB) and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS). The test would be conducted for the recruitment to Group B and Group C posts. The NRA would initially conduct CET for only three recruitment agencies, but would expand to all 20 various agencies. Based on the CET score, an aspirant can apply for higher tiers of recruitment process to be conducted by these agencies, Secretary (Personnel) C Chandramouli said. An aspirant would be allowed unlimited attempts within a prescribed age limit to better his or her CET score. The best would be considered. Moreover an aspirant would not need to travel outside his or her district to access a test centre. The move will benefit a large number of rural aspirants who try for Central government jobs every year. The CET will now be available in multiple languages and help aspirants from different parts of the country to take the examination and get equal chances of being selected. Also Read | CM Orders Strict Measures to prevent in-transport stealing of spirits PM Modi tweeted, “The National Recruitment Agency will prove to be a boon for crores of youngsters. Through the Common Eligibility Test, it will eliminate multiple tests and save precious time as well as resources. This will also be a big boost to transparency,” -PTC News