Context: Terming the setting up of a National Recruitment Agency as "historic", Union minister Jitendra Singh on August 19 said it will conduct an online Common Eligibility Test for shortlisting candidates for majority of central government jobs twice a year. He said the multiple recruitment examinations are a burden on the candidates, as also on the respective recruitment agencies, involving avoidable or repetitive expenditure, law and order or security-related issues and venue-related problems. It is envisioned that the NRA would be a specialist body bringing state of the art technology and best practices to the field of central government recruitment. 

Recruitment Reform - a major boon for the youth 

• At present, candidates seeking government jobs have to appear for separate examinations conducted by multiple recruiting agencies for various posts, for which similar eligibility conditions have been prescribed.  
• 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, involving avoidable/repetitive expenditure, law and order/security related issues and venue related problems.  
• On an average, 2.5 crore to 3 crore candidates appear in each of these examinations.  
• 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.

About 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 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.  
• It is envisioned that the NRA would be a specialist body bringing the state-of-the-art technology and best practices to the field of Central Government recruitment. 

Key Features
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 on creating examination infrastructure in the 117 Aspirational Districts would go a long way in affording access to candidates at a place nearer to where they reside.  
• The benefits in terms of cost, effort, safety and much more would be immense. The proposal will not only ease access to rural candidates, it will also motivate the rural candidates residing in the far-flung areas to take the examination and thereby, enhance their representation in Central Government jobs.  
• Taking job opportunities closer to the people is a radical step that would greatly enhance ease of living for the youth. 

Major Relief to poor Candidates 

• Presently, the candidates have to appear in multiple examinations conducted by multiple agencies.   
• Apart from the examination fees, candidates have to incur additional expenses for travel, boarding, lodging and other such.  
• 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 as they have to arrange for transportation and places to stay in places that are far away.  
• 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 from rural background have to make a choice as to which examination they want to appear in.   
• Under the NRA, the candidates by appearing in one examination will get an opportunity to compete for many posts.   
• NRA will conduct the first-level /Tier I Examination which is the stepping stone for many other selections.

CET Score to be valid for three years, no bar on attempts 

• 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.  
• 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.  
• This would go a long way in mitigating the hardship of candidates who spend a considerable amount of time, money and effort preparing and giving these examinations every year.  

Standardised Testing 

• 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 to which recruitment is presently carried out by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (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 curriculum for this test would be common as would be the standard.  
• This would greatly ease the burden of candidates who are at present required to prepare for each of the examinations separately as per different curriculum. 

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.  
• The ultimate aim is to reach a stage wherein candidates can schedule their own tests at Centres of their choice. 

Outreach activities by NRA
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 and have an equal opportunity of being selected. 

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.  
• Further, it would be open for other agencies in the public as well as private domain to adopt it if they so choose.  
• Thus, in the long run, the CET score could be shared with other recruiting agencies in the Central Government, State Governments/Union Territories, Public Sector Undertaking and Private Sector.  
• 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 and go ahead with recruitment on the basis of CET scores, Physical Tests and Medical examination.  
• This would greatly reduce the cycle and benefit a large section of youth. 

Merits of NRA & CET

• Leveraging Technology to enhance Integrity of exam: A standardised question bank with multiple questions of similar difficulty levels will be created in a central server. An algorithm will be used to jumble and dole out different questions, so that each candidate receives a different question paper, reducing the chances of cheating and paper leakage.
• Reduces Recruitment Cycle: Scores will be generated quickly, delivered online and be valid for a three-year period. Presently these exam cycle process takes on an average 6-12 months
• Increases Access to Exams: To make it easier for candidates, examination centres would be set up in every district of the country
• Huge Savings for recruiters & candidates: For the recruiting agencies, the savings in terms of logistics will be huge. Also, candidates would no longer have to travel to urban centres at considerable expense and hardship to take an employment test
• Applicant Friendly: The candidate may qualify the CET once and then appear for multiple recruitments directly for a period of 3 years (provided he meets the other criteria)

Challenges Ahead 

• Unfilled Vacancies: New posts are sanctioned periodically, but a large number of vacancies remain unfilled. Around 7 Lakh Government Posts Remained Unoccupied till March 2018, according to government sources
• Growing Privatisation: With growing emphasis on transferring core railway services to the private sector, there may be fewer government jobs on offer in the future. 
• Similar reform needed at State level: Only 14% of public employment comes under the purview of Centre (predominantly in railways & defence), with the rest falling within the purview of States. 
• Needs Sustained Political Commitment: The long-term relevance of such reforms will depend on the commitment of governments to raise the level of public employment and expand services to the public.
• Centre Vs State dilemma: The process of recruitment from state level exams is still under consideration to see whether states implement this to their system of recruitment or not.

Road Ahead

• It is a major reform as far as recruitment to Central govt. is concerned, it is a transformative reform that was on the agenda for long. The idea is to be all inclusive and role out process by next year. Moving forward the government needs to work on capacity building and infrastructure, we have to ensure that digital divide width is not widen. It will be a learn as go process and this is just a start of the 'Ease of doing recruitment".