National Recruitment Agency (NRA): Is Needed?
On 19th August 2020, The Union Cabinet decided to set up a National Recruitment Agency (NRA). The approved NRA will conduct a common preliminary examination for various recruitment in the central government.
What is National Recruitment Agency (NRA)?
The National Recruitment Agency or NRA is an independent body that will conduct the Common Eligibility Test (CET) for recruitment to non-gazetted posts in government and public sector banks.
Government plans to use the CET score for all recruitments in the future. But, to begin with, three of the over 20 Central government recruitment agencies would be brought under the NRA.
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.
List of three agencies brought under NRA are as under:
- Railway Recruitment Board (RRB)
- Staff Selection Commission (SSC)
- Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS)
Everything You Should Know About Examination Conducted by NRA
National Recruitment Agency will conduct preliminary (Tier-I) test for the three agencies brought under NRA i.e Railway Recruitment Board, Staff Selection Commission and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection.
The Common Eligibility Test (CET) will be conducted for the Graduate, the Higher Secondary (12thpass) and the Matriculate (10th Pass) candidates.
- Mode of Examination: Online
- Examination Type: Preliminary / Tier-I
- Number of Attempt: No Limit, Subjected to Upper Age Limit
- Score Validity: 3 Years from date of declaration of result and the best of the valid scores shall be deemed to be the current score of the candidate
- Language: Examination will be conducted in 12 languages
- Centre Location: In Every District of Country
- No. of Times Examination Conducted in a Year: Twice
- Registration Process: Candidates will have to register for examination on a common registration portal for all the three agencies with a facility to choose his/her examination centre based on its availability centre will be allotted.
- Fee for Examination: Single Fee for all three agencies examination
- Age relaxation for SC/ST and OBC candidates: As per existing rule will apply
- Curriculum: The curriculum for CET would be common
“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 examinations, which shall be conducted by the respective recruitment agencies. The curriculum for this test would be common as would be the standard”, the statement said.
What is the need of NRA?
- 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. Single exam will reduce the financial burden on candidates.
- The availability of exam centres in every district would benefit the female candidates as well. Girls generally depend on a guardian (father/brother/ husband) to accompany them in reaching their exam centres if it is far away from their home town
- These multiple recruitment examinations are a burden on the respective recruitment agencies also, involving avoidable/repetitive expenditure, law and order/security related issues and venue related problems
Benefits for Students:
Single examination fee would reduce the financial burden that multiple exams imposed especially on the poor background candidates.
- Applicants are required to register on a single Registration portal.
- Removes the hassle of appearing in multiple examinations
- Since exams will be held in every district, it would substantially save travel and lodging cost for the candidates. Examination in their own district would encourage more and more women candidates to apply for government jobs.
- It will also prevent the issue of clashing examination dates
- Candidates will have the facility to give a choice of centers and they would be allotted the chosen centers, based on availability.
- 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.
- Facility to give examination in multiple languages.
- A single eligibility test would significantly reduce the lengthy recruitment cycle
How much money will be spent on the NRA by government?
Initially 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. Apart from setting up the NRA, costs will be incurred for setting up examination infrastructure in the 117 Aspirational Districts.
